pleonasms: ink pen

[Laurence Horn]

>Nothing missed.  That which you call "stick pin" I call "pin". (Oh!  Look at
>the pin I got for donating blood!) and that which you call "straight pin"
>(about 2 inches, small head- with who knows how many angels dancing upon it)
>I call "stick pin" as it sticks something down (like a hem, maybe?).
>
>Point is, for me, "straight pin" IS pleonastic (pleo-nasty?) as they're all
>*straight* (except for maybe thoses wierd things doctors use to sew skin
>with, which I've never actually seen and probably don't fit a "pin" prototype
>very well anyway).
>
A safety pin (which would be referred to in a lot of the same
contexts as safety pins) isn't straight, or rather is bow-legged with
one curved and one straight leg.  Also if only partly jocular
suggestion the other day was right, straight pin : safety pin ::
straight razor : safety razor, so that "straight" here may refer to
the default (non-safety) category as much as to the rectilinearity
factor.

larry