An adjective is redundant when the noun after it conveys the meaning of the adjective. For example, I once saw an ambulance car labeled “Fast Ambulance” in red; how redundant the adjective “fast” is here? What is the use of an ambulance if it is not fast? Somebody please tell me.
Here are other examples where I, usually, find the adjective redundant:
Fragile glass
Loving mother
Horrible crime
Loyal friend
Small point
Hot summer (not globally redundant)
Lethal weapon
Sweet candy
Cute young woman (All the ladies that I know personally are cute and young, right?)
Even though an adjective maybe redundant, its presence emphasizes and decorates the meaning of a noun, I guess that is why one gets tempted to overuse adjectives.
Is the adjective “false” in “false perception” always somehow redundant? I hope it is not.
Do you think of other examples? Please let me know.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Redundant Adjectives
Posted by Omar the Royal Blue at 3:59 PM
Labels: linguistics
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12 comments:
I don't think the adj in "Fragile Glass" is redundant man! ... there is glass which is bullet proof ;) seeeee?:) So there is the fragile and non fragile!
There are hating mothers...
There are crimes which are not horrible ... like when you put on some bad music! :P heheheh ...
There are not loyal friends!
There are small points and big points!!!!
Of course there are weapons which are not lethal!Like those guns which work on compressed air "Baby gun?" ...
There is bitter taste candies!!
Heh ... there are a lot of not cute women :P ...... and not all women you know personally are young! What about that sixty something old blogger lady you met? :D heh ...
I will hit with some real examples later man ;)
Sorry maybe I was a bit harsh on you dude :P heh ...
CYAAAAAAAAAAAA ;)
heyz buddy :)
simply, that's a nice idea :)
and Omar's idea was nice as well
it's about seeing things from your perspective ;)
anyways
i can think only about one redundant adj
Cute Iyado :P , you know , iyado enough should shows how cute that person is :P
i find the adjective in "unfair prejudice "
to be redundent almost all the time
Hasan:
Bulletproof glass is made of a glass, and glass is fragile at room temperature because of its molecular crystal structure, however a layer or layers of a polymer are applied to such kind of glass to support its structure, but this technique does not eliminate the fragility of glass. When a bullet hits a tablet of so-called bulletproof glass, the glass clearly becomes smashed into pieces but the plastic laminate keeps the pieces together. It is called "bulletproof glass" for simplicity, but technically that name ignores the polymer; do not blame marketing people.
From the obvious, universally accepted behavioral definition of mother, no creature loves a child more than the child’s mother. If a mother does not love her child then she is not a mother; she is... something else. She did not intend to be a mother in the first place. The adjective loving refers here to a mother’s love to specifically her children and grand children.
If playing "bad music" were not something horrible, you would have not motioned it as a crime, even hilariously.
Would you take any disloyal person as a friend? If someone is not loyal to you then he or she is not your friend.
A point has no dimensions. You already know that, I guess.
A Compressed-air gun shoot may not kill all the cells of a multicellular organisms, like a human, but it does kill some of its, skin cells for example, thus such a gun is lethal even if this fact is invisible to the naked eye. If a "weapon" does no harm then it is not a weapon.
Bitter-taste candies are not candies, but you can call them bittertastecandies if you like.
The last one is the most important! Only evil witches are not cute and, hey... a sixty years old lady is young enough :D
I'm waiting for your examples.
GrayFox:
I think your example is perfect but double check it with Hasan ;)
Yaser:
Welcome to the labs. Very good one; I agree with you.
Salty salt ..
I'm not kidding , in this case this adjective is not redundant 'cause I myself have experinced some kind of salt that needed salt to be salty
Regards
YES SPEARS!
Add to that, sweet sugar :D!
Hey there!
I've been reading your blog and i really liked the subjects, they're interesting and smooth.
i wanted to comment from the beggining but i really didn't know what to say as there were some very smart and funny comments up there!! and you know that my work doesn't let any space for fun in my head :/ it's nice to know what others say about you.Keep on the creative work.
tayeb ya jama3a... How can slim chance and a fat chance be the same thing, while a wise man and a wise guy are total opposites?
How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another?....
Sorry to all for the late reply.
Spears:
Welcome to the labs. You're not talking about "regular" food salt, right?
Hasan:
Do you miss sweet sugar when you drink diet soda? :)
Peace:
Welcome to the labs, "sweet (adj.)" peace. Keep coming dear.
Zena:
Good examples. I'm researching "a wise man and a wise guy are total opposites"
ciao! The weather is "hot as hell" or "cold as hell" are both totaly correct! Indeed, we can find hell represented as a dark & cold place according to the Apocalypse in the New Testament.
Intanto, chi s'è ne frega se l'inferno esiste o meno. Io personalmente non ci credo proprio.
A presto!
Ahh .. Well I loved that idea .. it made me think for a moment (HUGGGGEEE result :P )
And Cute Iyado .. I raise my hands for that one.. It sure is true :P
Cute NK2:
Welcome to the labs, I’m glad to know you loved the idea.
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