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Redundant Again

Redundant Again

By Elton Camp

There’s an expression hard to beat
It’s a reference to “hamburger meat”

Here’s another that’s too often seen
Come and use our “ATM machine”

In a storm, folks always “hunker down”
But to “hunker up” is not ever found

An “advance reservation” is quite wise
You can’t do it afterward with many tries

There’s no sense to “aid and abet,”
Since the same meaning they get

Then consider the name “balsa wood”
Surely “wood” has to be understood

A “brief moment” certainly can’t be long
Otherwise, the very expression is wrong

Why use the two words “cancel out”
When cancel alone shows what’s about

Contemplate the words “cash money”
Doesn’t it actually sound rather funny

In “closed fist” I really have to insist
That “closed” is essential if it’s a fist

Ingredients you have to “combine together”
You can’t combine apart even if you rather

“Completely filled” uses two words when it’s true
When “filled” alone would be all we need do

We “confer together” because there’s no art
That will somehow allow us to confer apart

We “could possibly” carry out the plan
Gives nothing new that we can understand

The “current incumbent” is the one in now
An “incumbent” has to be current anyhow

How could it be that we say “exact same”
When identical is what the two words name

We ordinarily will speak of a “face mask”
Where else could a “mask” go I have to ask

So if I trip then I have to “fall down”
If I fall up, then gravity isn’t around

A plane, we say, will “fly through the air”
Could it fly through the water over there?

Enter a “PIN number” when using a debit card
That “PIN” already says number can’t be too hard

A fly is crawling on the “nape of her neck”
Where else is a “nape” located by heck?

Then there’s the expression “overused cliché”
Could a “cliché” possibly be any other way?

A “pair of twins” surely does imply there are two
Any other number with “twins” just wouldn’t do

And now think about the words, “sole of the foot”
Where else is it that a “sole” could possibly be put?

Another example of redundancy is “tuna fish”
“Tuna” can’t be anything else even if we wish

In our writing, unneeded words we should eliminate
Lest our postings others should actually come to hate

Copyright © Elton Camp | Year Posted 2011

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