Tautological Tendencies


Subject: Tautological Tendencies
From: Cecilia Baader (ceciliabaader@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Feb 04 2002 - 12:35:39 GMT


After representing my perfectly acceptable prose as 'tautological' and
'dysphonic', Herr Bowman launched into the following explication of his
reasoning:

     '... Since educate derives from 'e[x]': out & 'duco': I lead,
     educate already has the sense, '[to] lead out, lead forth'
     - & so hardly requires the further adornment of 'better'.
     One could scarcely 'bring forth' in a negative way. Thar,
     presumably, would be to lead backwards, i.e. 'retro ducere'
     or ... but you doubtless grasp my drift.'

Your argument is inherently flawed, for it rests on the assumption that
the 'bringing forth' cannot be negative. You forget that in my original
statement, I indicated that it was America that needed educating and,
judging by your relatively regular need to correct the grammar of my
fellow Americans, one can assume that the 'bringing forth' in this country
is somewhat less than stellar. Therefore, one needs an adjective to
modify this bringing forth. Let us, then, examine 'better':

Better, as I am certain you are aware, derives from the Old English
'betere', from the Sanskrit 'bhadra': excellent. This 'excellent bringing
forth' is precisely the meaning I desired.

But that isn't the end of it: Jim, who has spent his life disagreeing with
Scottie, felt the need to not only agree but to add:

     ' ... "To better educate" is also a split infinitive.
     It is argued, of course, whether or not split infinitives
     are incorrect English, but many people consider them bad form.
     But I agree -- "better" seems redundant here.'

Ah, Jim, Jim, Jim. Neither Fowler nor Strunk, the only grammarians worth
noting, deny me the opportunity to split my infinitives. Rather, the rule
is: "Do not split infinitives needlessly." And, as I have already
explained above, this particular adverb was entirely necessary.

I trust I have clarified this matter to your satisfaction.

Regards,
Cecilia.

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