Birthdays are often for fun. They are a time to celebrate life and thank God for the gift of it. So, there is little or no point complicating matters around it.
But it is one phenomenon that suffers some recurrent, if not chronic, grammatical assaults.
You recall how we treated the issue of ‘Happy belated birthday’ months ago? We had noted that even when you fail to greet a celebrator on the day of his or her birth, but choose to do so later, the birthday is not belated.
It is the message or your gesture that is coming after the expected time. So, all you need to tell the chap is, ‘Belated happy birthday’, not ‘Happy belated birthday’. Now, consider the tautology in ‘birthday anniversary’ too.
It is wrong to use ‘anniversary’ with ‘birthday’, because both largely mean the same thing, especially in the context under consideration. The birthday refers to the day/anniversary of the person’s birth. So, we do not need both together.
Imagine misusing ‘year’ and ‘anniversary’ in this construction too:
The company is celebrating its 10th year anniversary.
No. All the organisation is celebrating is its 10th anniversary, which is the 10th year of its establishment. So, remember that that party you are attending is simply a birthday party, not a birthday anniversary party.
N10,000 naira
Some tautological expressions rear their heads not because the speakers or writers do not know that they (the statements) are wrong, but because they are a bit careless or hasty. An example is the one in which names of currencies are used together with their symbols.
If someone writes ‘N10,000 naira’, for instance, he has committed an error of tautology. But, in speech, he is not likely to say ‘Naira ten thousand naira’. This also suggests that if the fellow reads the text very well before moving on, he is likely to spot the error and eliminate one of the elements repeated – and leave it as N10,000.
Other examples of the faulty combination are: $750 dollars and £800 pounds.
ATM machine
When many people have difficulties with the money dispenser, and they want to report to bank officials, they say ‘The ATM machine’ is faulty. Here, again, is another example of an undue repetition.
The meaning of ATM is Automated Teller Machine. So, what is faulty is the ATM itself, not ATM machine – because you would normally not say ‘The Automated Teller Machine machine is faulty.’
Other popular terms you should watch include PIN, GPS, ISBN and RAM. In this wise, what is tautological in each of the following sentences?
The manager wants to know my PIN Number.
The GPS system is complicated.
I need an ISBN number for my new publication.
I will buy the laptop because of its RAM memory.
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