TwoCents | GRAMMATICA: TAUTOLOGY OLYMPICS

Hello and good morning my fellow inhabitants of the earthsphere(I have no idea why that came out of my head), it's a new day to sharpen our language skills and I bring you another serving of diction malaise. Let me see if you recognize any of them. Shall we?1. BLACK SOOT My Pitakwa (Port Harcourt) people have been victims of this menace for a good four or five months and it was not a pretty sight. Imagine wearing masks inside your house, closing your windows so your bedsheets don't become a different colour. Yeah, it was not good for us till February, when we felt a modicum of comfort. But this still gave some of us the freedom to murder the expression, as "Soot" became "Black Soot". Yes, Tamara, its colour is black so you don't need to say it again abi is there another colour of soot we don't know about? I mean, even if there was, you haven't been asked to describe it. It is a plague not a bag you are buying at the mall. 🌚🌚🌝2. FALLING DOWN This one is probably used by a multitude of us so let us all learn together. Don't bring out your pitchforks before marinating on this😎😎😎 When you envision a fall, your mind would most definitely go to something low, on the ground, mostly in a negative light. Nothing falling would go up or the ceiling, am I right? It's always below and sometimes never rising. So, saying "falling down" seems more like tautology than logical sense. Same applies to sitting or writing, so instead of saying "sit down" or "write down" you can just say "sit" or "take a seat" or "write".3. SAFE HAVEN When you sing some of our gospel or even love songs, you must have heard this used repeatedly. A haven is a safe place or idea that signifies security. Someone can say "Music is my haven", or "the presence of God is my haven", which signifies they feel warm and comfortable in these places and ideas. This tells you that using "safe haven" feels like a tautology security threat. I mean, even the language doesn't feel safe with you.4. PEAK MY INTEREST Last week, I had shown you how "peak" can be used incorrectly and defined it simply. Looking at this, can you see why it does not make sense? How does one peak your interest? The person took it to the highest level of satisfaction so you don't seem interested? Wait, but I thought you were using this to signify you are interested in the person? Could it be the person "piqued" your interest, instead of "peaking" it? Yeah, I thought so too 👍👍👍5. TEMPER TANTRUM Well, if you are going to get angry, why not take it all the way right? Or maybe there are different types of tantrums we do not know about. But I thought tantrums were fits of anger, more especially a reaction to rejection or not getting what you want? Why does it need the appendage? Just say 'she is throwing a tantrum" or "he threw a tantrum", you would be fine. I know in language, we want to say more words, but like you have come to observe, "less is more". Verbosity really pays no one.6. PASSING FAD A fad is a trend and as we know, trends tend to come and go. So, calling it passing, well, do I need to say what it entails or you already know? Tautology Relay!!!!7. CIRCLE AROUND, REVERT BACK A circle is round, right? So, if you are circling, it means you would be going round. You don't need to "circle around" What of revert back? To revert means to go back or refer to something. No need for the Tautology Olympics people. I hope you learnt one or two things and are ready to correct your diction. HAPPY MEN'S HEALTH WEEK!!!!

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