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ImageSMART TALK

by Dr. "Gabby" Macron



SAFE HAVEN: Having a drop after work in the Fowler Lounge, we therapists keep a kitty on the bar. Every time a self-important but clueless journalist commits a redundancy or other usage faux pas, each customer present contributes a quarter. Believe me, it adds up fast. Last year, it paid the bill for the Center for English as a First Language staff picnic at Moot Point, with open bar and a live band.

Safe haven is a real money maker. The reporter speaking so confidently into the camera has never applied the redundancy test. He or she has never realized that dangerous haven sounds as dumb as lag ahead.

A haven is a place of safety, a refuge (not a safe refuge) so safe haven becomes as redundant as surrounded on all sides.

Unfortunately, now the staff depends upon that kitty, much as many states have anti-smoking campaigns but depend upon their smokers to keep the revenue rolling in. We work to eliminate ignorant language by day and profit from it by night.

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