A seasonal enquiry

You are not logged in. [Log In] Wordsmith.org Forums Q&A about words A seasonal enquiry

Print Thread

Page 3 of 4

#158508 - 04/20/06 12:57 AM Re: Minggu is also the word for week
Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel
Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803	I guess it depends on how you define redundant. If the same information is presented more than once, it's redundant in my book.

#158509 - 04/20/06 01:00 AM Re: Minggu is also the word for week
Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Jackie
Jackie Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky	I didn't know that redundant carried the connotation of uselessness. Duplication, yes, but not automatically useless...? That's pretty awful, given that you Brit-speakers say that someone who has been what we call laid off has been made redundant.

#158510 - 04/20/06 01:07 AM Re: Minggu is also the word for week
Joined: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,230 sjmaxq Carpal Tunnel
sjmaxq Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,230 Te Ika a Maui	Quote: I didn't know that redundant carried the connotation of uselessness. Duplication, yes, but not automatically useless...? That's pretty awful, given that you Brit-speakers say that someone who has been what we call laid off has been made redundant. Well, here's what M-W, a USn dikshunry if I'm not mistaken, offers for "redundant": Quote: a : exceeding what is necessary or normal : SUPERFLUOUS b : characterized by or containing an excess; specifically : using more words than necessary c : characterized by similarity or repetition a group of particularly redundant brick buildings d chiefly British : no longer needed for a job and hence laid off The definitions above are the ones that I'm familiar with, and all carry more than merely a sense of duplication. They all suggest an element of being unnecessary. Hence the employment sense - "we have 4 cleaners and need only three. One of you is redundant." It's really the same meaning as in the definitions listed before it, afaict. noho ora mai http://maxqnzs.com/References.html

#158511 - 04/20/06 01:10 AM Re: Minggu is also the word for week
Joined: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,230 sjmaxq Carpal Tunnel
sjmaxq Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,230 Te Ika a Maui	Onelook has both the AHD and the compact OED also offering "more than is needed, superfluous" as among the primary meanings of "redundant". noho ora mai http://maxqnzs.com/References.html

#158512 - 04/20/06 01:18 AM Re: Minggu is also the word for week
Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Jackie
Jackie Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky	To me, not needed does not equate to useless. Just my opinion. EDIT: does not always equate to useless.

#158513 - 04/20/06 01:30 AM Re: Minggu is also the word for week
Joined: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,230 sjmaxq Carpal Tunnel
sjmaxq Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,230 Te Ika a Maui	Quote: To me, not needed does not equate to useless. Just my opinion. EDIT: does not always equate to useless. I'm sorry, you have me confused. I haven't said that "redundant" meant "useless". The definitions I quoted all say that "redundant" means "more than is necessary, superfluous". My original question was whether that is actually true of a linguistic redundancy if it serves a useful purpose, specfically, removing ambiguity. If "redundant" means "not necessary, superfluous", and if a word's presence serves to elminiate ambiguity, then it is in fact necessary, not superfluous. I am unable to fathom how the concept of "uselessness" got dragged into this. Even in the occupational setting I gave as an example, saying that a person is redundant for a particular task doesn't mean that he or she is useless. I certainly never said or implied an equivalence between "redundant" and "useless", and so don't understand why it keeps coming up here. noho ora mai http://maxqnzs.com/References.html

#158514 - 04/20/06 01:41 AM Re: Minggu is also the word for week
Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Jackie
Jackie Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky	I jumped to that conclusion from your saying It just got me wondering whether such a device really deserves to be called redundant if it is actually serving a useful purpose. If something is not actually serving a useful purpose, I thought you meant that it was useless. Sorry; apparently that was an incorrect assumption.

#158515 - 04/20/06 01:45 AM Re: Minggu is also the word for week
Joined: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,230 sjmaxq Carpal Tunnel
sjmaxq Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,230 Te Ika a Maui	Quote: I jumped to that conclusion from your saying It just got me wondering whether such a device really deserves to be called redundant if it is actually serving a useful purpose. If something is not actually serving a useful purpose, I thought you meant that it was useless. Sorry; apparently that was an incorrect assumption. Indeed it was. It is very easy for something to be unnecessary without being useless. noho ora mai http://maxqnzs.com/References.html

#158516 - 04/20/06 03:29 AM Re: Minggu is also the word for week
Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 3,290 zmjezhd Carpal Tunnel
zmjezhd Carpal Tunnel Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 3,290 R'lyeh	And redundancy is important in language. Has something to do with information theory. Ceci n'est pas un seing.

#158517 - 04/20/06 03:54 AM Re: Minggu is also the word for week
Joined: Mar 2001 Posts: 2,379 inselpeter Pooh-Bah
inselpeter Pooh-Bah Joined: Mar 2001 Posts: 2,379 New York City	Interesting, Max. I'd always thought of "redundant" as meaning repetitious, not superfluous. Repetition, then, does not necessarily involve superfluity; so that, as you say, it is not necessarily redundant. Hmm.

Page 3 of 4

Moderated by Jackie

Forum Statistics

Forums16

Topics13,879

Posts223,986

Members9,024

Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011

Newest Members

TFED1, mark18, PureTech, Dilys, Abishek
9024 Registered Users


	Wordsmith Talk		About Us \| What's New \| Search \| Site Map \| Contact Us

Wordsmith Talk