- By Jim Evans
- Entertainment
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SMART TALK
by Dr. Will S. Sert
COMPLETE AND TOTAL: Here at the Center for English as a First Language, we have a collection of redundancies like this, the most egregious kind, that combine two synonyms. Complete and total, for instance. Is a complete fool any more foolish than a total fool?
Totally and completely shows how a linguistic virus can mutate, adapting itself to new situations in spite of our best efforts.
A relative of these pairs rears its ugly head when some yob describes a book as complete and unabridged.
The ultimate fools may well be any spring's new crop of young lovers. Such happy and enviable fools, totally and completely in love. Always and forever.