Redundancy--(in defense of "South Yugoslavia")

[Kathy Seal]

I"m a writer and not a linguist and I don't know about the Law of Least
Effort but I've observed that doubling up on meaning (as in (shudder) "very
unique") is a common way for people to add emphasis -- because it lengthens
the expression --  express themselves forcefully, and provide color and
adornment.  I like "ink pen" for example because it summons up the image of
the ink flowing from the pen, especially the extra "nk" sound it provides.
Pen all by itself is kind of lonely and short, much less poetic.
KATHY SEAL
310-452-2769
Coauthor, Motivated Minds: Raising Children to Love Learning (Holt, 2001)
www.Kathyseal.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 12:25 PM
Subject: Re: Redundancy--(in defense of "South Yugoslavia")


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Redundancy--(in defense of "South Yugoslavia")
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>
>    I'd like to speak out in defense of "South Yugoslavia." Sure, "Yug-" in
Slavic means "South," but once the country Yugoslavia arose, one could be in
the north, south, east, or west of that country.
>
>     But here's another (non-onomastic) item on redundancy. A much beloved
professor of geology at my campus (Tom Beveridge; now deceased) used to
travel around the state (Missouri) studying not only geology but also
collecting anything else of interest that he came across.. He was
particularly fond of collecting interesting signs. One, in a restaurant, was
an advertisement to hire a "female waitress." Another of his favorite
reodundancies was "an ink pen."
> I forget the rest. But (and here I'm just wondering out loud) how do these
examples jibe with the supposed Law of Least Effort in language?
>
>         Gerald Cohen
>         University of Missouri-Rolla
>
> > ----------
> > From:         American Name Society on behalf of Marc Picard
> > Reply To:     American Name Society
> > Sent:         Saturday, November 13, 2004
> > To:   ANS-L at LISTSERV.BINGHAMTON.EDU
> > Subject:      Re: Redundancy
> >
> > On 04-11-13, at 10:08 am, Christopher K. Starr wrote:
> >
> > Dear Friends:
> >       Perhaps one of the real linguists out there (my credentials say
I'm an entomologist) would care to confirm or refute my idle suspicion that
the place name East Timor is redundant, as in (imaginary examples, as far as
I know) South Yugoslavia, North Beijing or East Tokyo.
> >
> >