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In rhetoric, a tautology is an unnecessary (and usually unintentional) repetition of meaning, using different words that effectively say the same thing twice (often originally from different languages). Rhetoric has had many definitions no simple definition can do it justice It is often regarded as a fault of style and was defined by Fowler as "saying the same thing twice". Stylistics is the study of varieties of Language whose properties position that language in context. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, often referred to as Fowler's Modern English Usage or simply as Fowler's or Fowler It is not necessary for the entire meaning of a phrase to be repeated; if a part of the meaning is repeated in such a way that it appears as unintentional or clumsy, then it may be described as tautology. On the other hand, a repetition of meaning which improves the style of a piece of speech or writing is not usually described as tautology, although it may be a logical tautology. In Propositional logic, a tautology (from the Greek word ταυτολογία is a Propositional formula that is true under any possible valuation

In colloquial terms a logical tautology can also be defined as a series of statements that comprise an argument, whereby the statements are constructed in such a way that the truth of the proposition is guaranteed. Consequently the statement conveys no useful information regardless of its length or complexity. Thus, for a simple example, the statement "If you can't find something (that you lost), you are not looking in the right place" is tautological. It is true, but conveys no useful information. As a physical example, to play a game of darts where the dart board was full of bullseyes, could be called a "tautological" game. You can't lose. Any argument containing a tautological statement is thus flawed logically and must be considered erroneous.

A tautological argument is not an argument; a tautological game is not a game. Scientific equations, such as E = mc2, are not tautologies. The terms on both sides of the equation are defined elsewhere independently, and thus the equal sign does not mean "is defined by" but rather equal to, thus establishing an equivalence.

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Basic examples

A common form of tautology is using two forms of the same word in the same construction. E. g. , the British supermarket Tesco sells a brand of lemon thyme which it describes as having an "aromatic aroma". Customer divider barjpg|thumb|In supermarkets sellers periodically change prices for classes of goods in response to market conditions rather than negotiating the price of each good Tesco plc is a British -based international grocery and general merchandising retail chain Thyme (ˈtaɪm is a well known herb in common usage the name may refer to either the any or all members of the plant Genus Thymus, Synonyms may also produce a tautology; "free gift" is tautologous because a gift, by definition, is something given without charge. This article deals with the general meaning of the term "synonym" Other such examples of tautology include "sufficiently adequate", "new innovation". In phrases, tautology is present in sayings such as "I can see it with my own eyes" and "forward planning".

Repetitions of meaning in mixed-language phrases

Repetitions of meaning sometimes occur when multiple languages are used together, such as "the La Brea Tar Pits" (the The tar Tar Pits), "the hoi polloi" (the the many), "Sierra Nevada mountain range" (Snowy Mountain Range mountain range), "Sahara Desert" (Deserts Desert), "Gobi Desert" (Desert Desert), "shiba inu dog" (small dog dog), "shrimp scampi" (shrimp shrimp), "Mississippi River" (Great-river river) "cheese quesadilla" (cheese cheesey-thing), "Lake Tahoe" (Lake Lake), "Faroe Islands" (Sheep Island Islands), and "Angkor Wat temple" (Angkor Temple temple). La Brea Tar Pits (or Rancho La Brea Tar Pits) are a famous cluster of Tar pits located in Hancock Park in the urban heart of Los Angeles, The Sierra Nevada ( Spanish for "Snowy Range" is a Mountain range located in the U The Sahara (الصحراء الكبرى aṣ-ṣaḥrā´ al-kubra, "The Great Desert" is the world's largest hot Desert and the world's second largest The Gobi (Говь Govi or Gov', "gravel-covered plain" Chinese: zh-t 戈壁(沙漠 Gēbì (Shāmò) The is the smallest of the six original and distinct breeds of Dog from Japan. Scampi is the plural of scampo, the Italian name for the Norway lobster ( Nephrops norvegicus) also known as the Dublin Bay prawn (especially The Mississippi River is the second longest River in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to A quesadilla (IPA, usually anglicized as) is a dish in Mexican cuisine or Tex-Mex, which involves cooking ingredients most importantly Cheese, inside Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater Lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains of the United States. The Faroe Islands or Faeroe Islands or simply Faroe(s or Faeroes (Føroyar meaning " Sheep Islands" Færøerne Old Norse Angkor Wat (or Angkor Vat) (អង្គរវត្ត is a Temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for King Suryavarman II The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (The The Angels Angels of Anaheim). The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California. Possibly the most extreme example is "Torpenhow Hill" (Hill-hill-hill Hill, in four languages). Torpenhow Hill is a hill about 200 metres above sea level in Cumbria in north west England on the side of which the village of Torpenhow is situated

The tautological status of these phrases is somewhat subjective and can be harder to detect than monolingual varieties, since they are only perceived as tautologous by people who understand enough of each of the involved languages, and because of the way that words change meaning as they drift from one language to another. For example, chai is Hindi for "tea", but in the United States, where the phrase "chai tea" is common, what is referred to as "chai" is more precisely "Masala chai. Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is "

Similar examples of repetitions occur when multiple languages are used in the same geographic area, even when the populations are generally well aware of the meaning of the redundant words. In bilingual (French and English) areas of Canada, for example, people may refer to the "Pont Champlain Bridge" (Bridge Champlain Bridge). Canadian French is an Umbrella term for the varieties of the French language used in Canada. Canadian English ( CanE, en-CA) is the variety of English used in Canada. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The Champlain Bridge ( Pont Champlain) crosses the Ottawa River about 5 km (3 miles west of Parliament Hill, joining the communities of Gatineau Tautologies like these occur more frequently in spoken English when printed materials compress the bilingual presentation (e. g. from the expected "Pont Champlain / Champlain Bridge" to "Pont Champlain Bridge"), a technique commonly used in Canada, New Mexico and other bilingual areas to save space on road signage, grocery packaging, etc. New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. A New Mexico example is the Spanish placename Arroyo del Oso (a ravine running through Albuquerque), known in English as Bear Canyon, but sometimes appearing as "Arroyo del Oso Canyon" (Small-canyon of-the Bear Canyon) or even "Bear Canyon Arroyo" (Bear Canyon Small-canyon). Mexican Spanish ( español mexicano in Spanish is the Spanish language as it is spoken in Mexico. Southern American English is a group of Dialects of the English language spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States, from Southern Another example of this, both in Las Cruces, New Mexico and north of Tucson, Arizona, is that of Picacho Peak (picacho being peak in Spanish). Tucson (ˈtuːsɒn is the seat of Pima County Arizona, United States, located 118 miles (188 km) southeast The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. Picacho Peak State Park is a park in the Arizona State Parks system located between Casa Grande and Tucson just off Interstate 10 in

Redundant expansion of acronyms

In some cases an acronym or abbreviation is commonly used in conjunction with a word which is actually part of the shortened form. Acronyms, initialisms, and alphabetisms are Abbreviations that are formed using the initial components in a phrase or name For the HTML tag see HTML element. An abbreviation (from Latin brevis "short" One of the better known examples of this is "PIN number", which is often used when explaining the concept. A personal identification number (PIN is a secret numeric Password shared between a user and a system that can be used to authenticate the user to the system Other examples include "MLS listing", ATM machine, RAID array, LAN network, ISBN number and "HIV virus". A Multiple Listing Service ( MLS) (also Multiple Listing System or Multiple Listings Service) is a group of private databases which allows Real estate RAID — which stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks,or alternatively Redundant Array of Independent Disks (a less specific name and thus now the Human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV) is a Lentivirus (a member of the Retrovirus family that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome This phenomenon is humorously, self-referentially referred to as RAS syndrome. Self-referential humor relies on a subject making light of itself in some manner RAS syndrome stands for "Redundant Acronym Syndrome syndrome" and refers to the use of one of the words that make up an Initialism or Acronym as well as

For more details on this topic, see RAS syndrome. RAS syndrome stands for "Redundant Acronym Syndrome syndrome" and refers to the use of one of the words that make up an Initialism or Acronym as well as

Intentional repetition of meaning

A repetition of meaning may be intended to amplify or emphasize a certain aspect of the thing being discussed. For example, a gift is by definition free of charge, but one might talk about a "free gift" to emphasize that there are no hidden obligations, financial or otherwise, or that the gift is being given out of free will. giFT Internet File Transfer ( giFT) is a computer software daemon that allows several File sharing protocols to be used with a simple client having a This is related to the rhetorical device of hendiadys, where one concept is expressed through the use of two, for example "goblets and gold" meaning wealth, or "this day and age" to mean the present time. Superficially these expressions may seem tautologous, but they are stylistically sound because the repeated meaning is merely a stylized way to express a single concept.

Much Old Testament poetry features the same thing said twice, but in slightly different ways ('Deceit is their sole intention, their delight is to mislead', Psalm 62). In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. Psalms ( Hebrew: Tehilim, תהילים, or "praises" is a book of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) included In this example, it is not exactly the same statement in both cases (in the first, the singleness of purpose is highlighted, in the second the pleasure), but more or less the same thing is being affirmed. This can be found very many times in the Psalms, and in other areas of the Bible as well.

Further examples

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English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States In Linguistics, prescription can refer both to the codification and the enforcement of rules governing how a language is to be used A figure of speech, sometimes A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, often referred to as Fowler's Modern English Usage or simply as Fowler's or Fowler Grammar is the field of Linguistics that covers the Rules governing the use of any given natural language. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them In Logic, the law of identity states that an object is the same as itself A ≡ A Any Reflexive relation upholds the law of identity A place name is tautological if two parts of it are synonymous No true Scotsman, or the self-sealing fallacy, is an Ad hoc style Fallacy of equivocation and question begging. Pleonasm is the use of more Words (or even word-parts) than necessary to express an Idea clearly In the study of language, redundancy is considered a vital feature of language Rhetoric has had many definitions no simple definition can do it justice A vacuous truth is a truth that is devoid of content because it asserts something about all members of a class that is empty or because it says "If  A  then 
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