Two-word tautologies

[MoleAtTheCounter]

Past history
Free gift
Aromatic smell
Mass exodus (a BBC favourite)

Please post more examples.

@Random789 , I agree with @PussBilledDuckyPlait .

What about currently underway? I keep seeing that at work and it annoys me

Two-word tautology. Tautology means saying the same thing twice, so “two-word” is redundant.

Sorry O, couldn’t resist…

hermetically sealed isn't a tautology. Something can be sealed in a way which isn't airtight.

I like @PussBilledDuckyPlait's description of how to use "unique".

DH saw a sign that said "Exclusively for everyone". He knows how I feel about these matters, so he took a photo and sent it to me with the caption "As good as a free gift". Made me smile

But tautology has another meaning, and you can have tautologies of more than two words.

DH saw a sign that said "Exclusively for everyone"

That's an oxymoron not tautology... they're worse!

'Swap out' annoys me, as frequently seen on fast-food menus:

'Swap out your fries for spicy potato wedges!'

No, I'll swap them, thank you.

Short shorts :(

I've just read a book which used the phrase 'spherical globe'.

It was not a great book, for many reasons. That was among the least of them!

That's ok, because some shorts are long.:-)

A bit like toddlers baggy tights as opposed to my tight tights ... I did sometimes used to refer to dressing DD in misnomers.

Pre order gets me: "we pre ordered our food" or "we pre ordered the book".

No! You ordered them.

Something can be sealed in a way which isn't airtight.
Can it?

Yes. Something could be watertight but not airtight.

Oh yes, work colleague.

The hoi polloi

Or neither - as in a sealed envelope.

Yes, most obvious example is an envelope.
A bottle can be sealed and watertight but still permeable to gases - sparkling water sealed in plastic bottles will eventually go flat.

Yes to very/somewhat/almost unique.

Really grates.

Well hermetically sealed still annoys me even if not a tautology. Maybe cos the sealing is implied in the hermetically?

@ErrolTheDragon - agreed! It was his clever link to “free gift” that made me laugh.

Not quite the same but I remember, in a local paper, a report of an accident where it stated
'... an eye-witness who heard rather than saw the accident...'

I think that should have been an ear-witness.

Do other adverbs annoy you?

English is a very flexible language. Some of these so-called tautologies are to refine concepts.

It's the beginning of snake season where I live. Planning ahead means reducing the areas where snakes can hide and sneak up on me. Planning in the moment is what I do if I step on a snake.

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