Archive: Arts & Entertainment

SMART TALK

by Dr. Ced Riley

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN: Yesteryear's baseball great, Yogi Berra, is known for his creative use of the language. Here at the Center for English as a First Language, we sometimes wish we had been in business early enough to have had him as a patient. Sometimes. Mr. Berra's linguistic errors could seem poetic, so we enjoy them, in a way.

Unfortunately, many who don't speak English as a first language can mistake a joke for the real thing. When Berra said, "This is like déjà vu all over again," most of us laughed at the redundancy. It's like saying hot water heater. As George Carlin said, "Who would want to heat hot water?", but millions seem to think the term makes sense.

Déjà vu is the sense that one is having an experience over again. Adding "all over again" is as silly as saying plan ahead.

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