Contest at Wordsmith.org

Contest:
Have you come across a pleonasm somewhere? How about making up your own examples of pleonasm?
Send us your pleonasms, whether homegrown or captured in the wild (include a picture, if possible).
The best entry will receive a copy of the word game WildWords (courtesy WildWords Game Company) and a runner-up will receive a copy of the word game One Up! (courtesy Uppityshirts).

How to participate: Email your entries to (contest at wordsmith.org) no later than Friday, Dec 10, 2010. Please include your location. Results will be announced this weekend.

Pleonasm
MEANING:
noun: The use of more words than those necessary to express an idea; redundancy.

Example: free gift.

Winner of the contest is Tracy Blues of Cape Town, South Africa (blues.tracy gmail.com) for this entry:

One of my favourite pleonasms is the Raid insecticide tagline: "Raid kills bugs dead." In 2002 there was some outdoor advertising of this in Johannesburg with a VW "bug" on its roof next to the advert -- so a pleonasm and a pun!

She wins a copy of the game WildWords (courtesy WildWords Game Company).
The runner up is Manoj Saranathan of San Francisco (anagrammarian gmail.com) who sent this entry:

My favourite by far is chai tea latte. Chai, as you know, already has tea and milk (which is latte in Italian). So much so that I went to Starbucks recently and asked for an Indian spiced chai tea latte (which is quadruple redundancy) and my friend burst out laughing much to the bewilderment of the barista.

He wins a copy of the word game One Up! (courtesy Uppityshirts).
After reading hundreds of examples my head is swirling in pleonasms, but thanks to every one for participating by taking part in the contest.

Visit our website for a selection of pleonasms and pictures shared by readers from around the world.


More than 900 readers sent pleonasms in response to this week's contest. Here are some that were sent by a lot of readers:

Misc:
preplan, advance planning, past history, past experience, very unique, future plan, forward planning, tuna fish, at this point in time, déjà vu all over again, 9am in the morning, new innovation.

RAS Syndrome (Redundant Acronym Syndrome Syndrome):
ATM machine, VAT tax, PCV valve, PIN number, VIN number, START treaty, SSN number, HIV virus, NIC Card, RPMs per minute, ER room, ISBN number, ATV vehicle, SQL language, CRT tube, LPG gas.

Trouble across the languages:
chai tea, shrimp scampi, please RSVP, the La Brea Tar Pits.