# What's it called?



## NaphtaliPress (Jan 27, 2009)

What is the term if any when someone uses two words that mean the same thing or practically so. For instance "pinch and straitens". Pinch basically means to put in straits, which is what straitens means as well. Yes it is a redundancy, but is there a name for it as a literary style? Anyone?


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## MrMerlin777 (Jan 27, 2009)

I think it's called a tautology.


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## he beholds (Jan 27, 2009)

I was going to say synonym, too, but if you are looking for a literary stylistic device, it may be parallelism--but both words would have to be used then.


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## NaphtaliPress (Jan 27, 2009)

I think it is *pleonasm *after doing a Google. But that didn't ring a bell.


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## PuritanCovenanter (Jan 27, 2009)

Do you mean like more bigger? Which is just poor grammar.

-----Added 1/27/2009 at 05:22:58 EST-----

From Dictionary.com


> ple⋅o⋅nasm
> /ˈpliəˌnæzəm/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [plee-uh-naz-uhm] Show IPA Pronunciation
> –noun
> 1. the use of more words than are necessary to express an idea; redundancy.
> ...


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## Semper Fidelis (Jan 27, 2009)

superfluous?


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## Jimmy the Greek (Jan 27, 2009)

I don't think anyone has hit on what he's looking for yet. I haven't a clue, but am anxious for an answer.


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## Semper Fidelis (Jan 27, 2009)

a tautology is more of a form of an argument than anything. It is redundant but not in the sense that Chris is asking.

If I say that Joshua is an unmarried bachelor, that is not a tautology. If I say:

1. The Earth's strata can be dated by the location of fossils and their positions therein
2. The dating of fossils can be determined by where they appear in the geological strata

That's a tautology.

-----Added 1/27/2009 at 05:44:07 EST-----

Chris,

How about a synonymous parallelism? That's at least what they call it when it occurs in Hebrew poetry.


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## Rev. Todd Ruddell (Jan 27, 2009)

In the context you've used, Chris, they are synonyms--two words which indicate the same thing--pinch, straighten. The figure of speech would then be synonymy.


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## NaphtaliPress (Jan 27, 2009)

I'm not sure Rich. Synonymous parallelism is used in poetry; this is a sermon. Actually it occurs often in Durham's work. Sometimes the words are closer in meaning than others. It is not something I've paid a lot of attention to, but this example struck me and I thought about dropping a note about it. I'm not happy with any of the answers yet really; just not sure.

-----Added 1/27/2009 at 05:58:57 EST-----

Perfect. Thanks very much Todd.


Rev. Todd Ruddell said:


> In the context you've used, Chris, they are synonyms--two words which indicate the same thing--pinch, straighten. The figure of speech would then be synonymy.


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## Poimen (Jan 27, 2009)

There is also Apposition


As in: Daniel Kok, the greatest human being that ever lived. 

And, by the way, don't any of you _*DARE*_ say that this is an exaggeration instead of an appositive.


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## Semper Fidelis (Jan 27, 2009)

Poimen said:


> There is also Apposition
> 
> 
> As in: Daniel Kok, the greatest human being that ever lived.
> ...



Don't forget this additional synonymy:

Daniel Kok is the humblest human being that ever lived.


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## MW (Jan 27, 2009)

Hendiadys is a figure of speech in which two words connected by a conjunction express a single idea.


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## py3ak (Jan 27, 2009)

Maybe we all need this quiz.


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## Rangerus (Jan 27, 2009)

I think it is called "hyper-articulation"


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## moral necessity (Jan 27, 2009)

How about "pairs". 

This was a helpful website for many of those sorts of interesting sentence forms.

Linguistics 450 - Repetition of Words and Phrases


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## py3ak (Jan 27, 2009)

Although some of the examples on that site are not entirely accurate: since when are "tender, fair and happy" synonymous?

There are quite a few sites that give listings. Here is one that is well laid out.


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## MW (Jan 27, 2009)

From the Literary Dictionary:



> hendiadys [hen‐dy‐ă‐dis], a figure of speech described in traditional rhetoric as the expression of a single idea by means of two nouns joined by the conjunction ‘and’ (e.g. house and home or law and order), rather than by a noun qualified by an adjective. The commonest English examples, though, combine two adjectives (nice and juicy) or verbs (come and get it). Shakespeare uses this figure quite often in his later works, as in the first part of this line from Hamlet:
> 
> The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind.


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## Confessor (Jan 27, 2009)

Semper Fidelis said:


> a tautology is more of a form of an argument than anything. It is redundant but not in the sense that Chris is asking.
> 
> If I say that Joshua is an unmarried bachelor, that is not a tautology. If I say:
> 
> ...



I don't think that's a tautology; it seems more like a form of circular argumentation. A tautology is a true statement because of its own merits, but provides absolutely no help. It is true because it essentially restates itself, which obviously cannot be helpful.

Wikipedia provides a good example with this phrase: "If you can't find something (that you lost), you are not looking in the right place." This is certainly not a false statement, but it's only true because it restates what is clearly implied in the first half.

In your example, if the definition of dating strata implied the location of fossils, then I guess it could be tautologous, but the _definition_ does not. And I would say that "unmarried bachelor" absolutely is a tautology, because "unmarried" is contained within the definition of "bachelor."


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## py3ak (Jan 27, 2009)

The OED defines tautology thus:

A. A repetition of the same statement.

B. The repetition (esp. in the immediate context) of the same word or phrase, or of the same idea or statement in other words: usually as a fault of style.

It lists 3 other meanings, but I don't think any are relevant here. But it would appear from this supreme example of lexicographical excellence, that Rich's definition was needlessly restrictive.


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## Semper Fidelis (Jan 27, 2009)

Confessor said:


> Semper Fidelis said:
> 
> 
> > a tautology is more of a form of an argument than anything. It is redundant but not in the sense that Chris is asking.
> ...



It is tautological because it adds no new information. The evolutionist who states this would not be saying it because it is false but because he believes it is true. Tautologies are, in fact, circular.


> The word tautology was used by the ancient Greeks to describe a statement that was true merely by virtue of saying the same thing twice, a pejorative meaning that is still used for rhetorical tautologies.


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## Rev. Todd Ruddell (Jan 28, 2009)

From EW Bullinger (whose theology is, in my opinion not to be followed, but who has written a very helpful book on figures of speech used in the Bible)

Syn-o-nym´-i-a, from σύν (sun), together with, and ὄνομα (onoma), a name. A Synonym is so Called when the sense of two or more words is similar, though the sound and appearance and derivation may be quite different. Synonyms do not make the figure called Synonymia unless they are used for the purpose of enhancing the force and fire of the passage.
The Figure of Synonymia is a repetition of words different in sound and origin, but similar in shades of meaning. When used rhetorically—repeating the same sentence in other words—it has a variety of uses, to which distinct names have been given according to the nature of the subject, or the object of the speaker. See below under the next section (Section II., Repetition, affecting the sense).
Synonymia, when employed by man, is often an unnecessary and vain repetition of empty words; but, when used by the Holy Spirit, it causes the mind to look again and again at the subject. Man may use it to expose his unhappy vanity: but God uses it to emphasize His wisdom, power, or purpose, when words of similar meaning are heaped together to attract the attention, and impress the mind.
We have not, except in a few important instances, attempted to define the various Synonyms employed. This is a work by itself, and will well repay the most patient and careful study.
Ex. 1:7.—“And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased, and multiplied.”
Ethelbert William Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, 324


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