pneumonia in the lungs

[Charles C Doyle]

Yes:  Redundancy for emphasis, for poetic effect, for no particular reason at all.  It's a common feature of the language.  Would anyone wish that Alice Walker had titled her novel, simply and concisely, "Purple"?

--Charlie

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From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Laurence Horn [laurence.horn at YALE.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 7:14 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
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To me, the observation that "She has PNEUMONIA in the lungs" seems fairly natural, more or less equivalent to "Her lungs have pneumonia."  Similar sentences would be "She has *hepatitis* in her liver" (with destressed "in her liver") or "I have a *stye* in my eye" or "She has 5 broken *bones* in her body" (with destressing on "in her body").  Or even "I need a new *engine* and four new *tires* for my car".  None of these strike me as particularly odd.  What I would find odd is "She has pneumonia in the LUNGS."

LH

On Apr 11, 2012, at 4:57 PM, Dan Nussbaum wrote:

> Heard on NPR today, "She has pneumonia in the lungs."
>
>
> I would like to know where else pneumonia can occur.
>
>
> Daniel Nussbaum II, MD, FAAP

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