Editing Pleonasm (section)

===Semantic pleonasm===
Semantic pleonasm is a question more of [[style (sociolinguistics)|style]] and [[usage (language)|usage]] than of grammar.<ref>Evans, Bergen, Evans, Cor Nelia, and others, (1957), ''A dictionary of contemporary American usage'', Random House</ref> Linguists usually call this ''redundancy'' to avoid confusion with syntactic pleonasm, a more important phenomenon for [[theoretical linguistics]]. It usually takes one of two forms: Overlap or prolixity.

'''Overlap''': One word's semantic component is subsumed by the other:
* "Receive a '''free gift''' with every purchase."; a [[gift]] is usually already [[free of charge|free]].
* "A '''[[tuna]] fish''' sandwich."
* "The plumber fixed our '''hot''' water '''heater'''." (This pleonasm was famously attacked by American comedian [[George Carlin]],<ref>{{cite web |at="'‘George Carlin at USC'’ (1978)" section |title=Divine Comedy: 25 Best Stand-Up Specials and Movies |first1=Steve |last1=Ciabattoni |first2=David |last2=Fear |first3=Tim |last3=Grierson |first4=Matthew |last4=Love |first5=Noel |last5=Murray |first6=Scott |last6=Tobias |work=[[Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone]] |publisher=Penske Business Media |date=29 July 2015 |access-date=27 July 2018|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-lists/divine-comedy-25-best-stand-up-specials-and-movies-70696/}}</ref> but is not truly redundant; a device that increases the temperature of cold water to room temperature would also be a water heater.)
* ''[[The BFG|The '''Big''' Friendly '''Giant''']]'' (title of a [[Children's literature|children's book]] by [[Roald Dahl]]); [[Giant|giants]] are inherently already "big".

'''Prolixity''': A phrase may have words which add nothing, or nothing logical or relevant, to the meaning.
* "I'm going '''down''' south."<br />(South is not really "down", it is just drawn that way on maps by convention.)
* "You can't seem to face '''up to''' the facts."
* "He entered '''into''' the room."
* "Every '''mother's''' child" (as in ''The Christmas Song'' by Nat King Cole', also known as ''Chestnuts roasting...'').<ref>{{cite web|title=The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole|url=https://genius.com/Nat-king-cole-the-christmas-song-lyrics|website=Lyrics|access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref> (Being a child, or a human at all, generally implies being the child of/to a mother. So the redundancy here is used to broaden the context of the child's curiosity regarding the sleigh of Santa Claus, including the concept of maternity. The full line goes: "And every mother's child is gonna spy, to see if reindeer really know how to fly". One can furthermore argue that the word "mother" is included for the purpose of lyrical flow, adding two syllables, which make the line sound complete, as "every child" would be too short to fit the lyrical/rhyme scheme.)
* "Ilk man and '''mother's son''' take heed" from ''Tam o' Shanter'' written by Robert Burns in 1790 (''Ilk'' is a now-archaic Scots [[determiner]]  meaning ''each'' or ''every'', so this adds a second pleonism to the ''mother's child'' example above, double-emphasising that he means ''absolutely every man'', as well as fitting the metre of that verse)
* "What therefore God hath joined '''together''', let no man put asunder."
* "He raised '''up''' his hands in a gesture of surrender."
* "Where are you '''at'''?"
* "Located" or similar before a [[preposition]]: "the store is '''located''' on Main St." The preposition contains the idea of locatedness and does not need a servant.
* "The house '''itself'''" for "the house", and similar: unnecessary re-specifiers.
* "'''Actual''' fact": fact.
* "On a daily basis": daily.
* "This '''particular''' item": this item.
* "Different" or "separate" after numbers: for example:
** "Four '''different''' [[species]]" are merely "four species", as two non-different species are together one same species. (However, in "a discount if you buy ten different items", "different" has meaning, because if the ten items include two packets of frozen peas of the same weight and brand, those ten items are not all different.)
** "Nine '''separate''' cars": cars are always separate.
* "Despite the fact that": although.

An expression like "tuna fish", however, might elicit one of many possible responses, such as:
# It will simply be accepted as '''synonymous''' with "tuna".
# It will be perceived as '''redundant''' (and thus perhaps silly, illogical, ignorant, inefficient, dialectal, odd, and/or intentionally humorous).
# It will imply a '''distinction'''. A reader of "tuna fish" could properly wonder: "Is there a kind of tuna which is not a fish? There is, after all, a dolphin mammal and a [[mahi-mahi|dolphin fish]]." This assumption turns out to be correct, as a "tuna" can also mean a [[opuntia|prickly pear]].<ref name="MW Tuna">{{cite web |url= http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tuna |title=tuna |work=Merriam-Webster.com |date=12 June 2018 |access-date=17 July 2018}}</ref> Further, "tuna fish" is sometimes used to refer to the flesh of the animal as opposed to the animal itself (similar to the distinction between ''beef'' and ''cattle'').<ref name="MW Tuna" /> Similarly, while all sound-making horns use air, an "air horn" has a special meaning: one that uses ''compressed'' air specifically; while most clocks tell time, a "time clock" specifically means one that keeps track of workers' presence at the workplace.
# It will be perceived as a verbal clarification, since the word "tuna" is quite short, and may, for example, be misheard as "tune" followed by an [[Aspiration (phonetics)|aspiration]], or (in dialects that [[arhotic|drop the final ''-r'' sound]]) as "tuner".