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ImageSMART TALK

by Dr. Will S. Sert



WHYS AND WHEREFORES: At the Center for English as a First Language, we have a collection of special redundancies like this. Each employs a pair of synonyms. Lawyers love these pairs, as in cease and desist (stop and stop). And why not: At, say, $240 per hour, throwing in a useless couple of words is worth another dollar or two. Gotta make those boat payments, you know.

As to whys and wherefores, wherefore means why. When Juliet sighs, "Wherefore art thou Romeo?" she's thinking out loud and asking, "Why are you Romeo?" Which is to ask, "Why does the one I love turn out to be you, one of the enemy family?" She's not asking where he is.

She knows this spells trouble and can't help herself. She's barely a teenager, after all, and doesn't weigh consequences like an adult. Not that adults always keep inappropriate emotions to themselves.

But many can't control an urge to use three words where one will do, and make themselves fatuous.

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