RAS Syndrome

[onlymark]

I've decided to leave this with you and I will review it when I return in a week.
I'd like to introduce you to a lesser known syndrome - RAS Syndrome.
This is where you have an acronym but then you immediately follow it with a repeat of the last word (or two) of the acronym.

An example is PIN number - Personal Identification Number number.
Or - ATM machine - Automated Teller Machine machine.
Can you think or any more?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAS_syndrome
RAS syndrome stands for redundant acronym syndrome syndrome.

[Deleted]

I have heard the usages you mention, Mark, but more often I have heard just 'PIN code' (which I agree isn't any better) and 'ATM' all by itself.

At the moment, the only thing that comes to mind isn't an acronym at all but even when I was 6 years old, I would cringe in school at the American southernism 'ink pen'. (And of course, writing that makes me think of 'tuna fish' which will lead me on from there....)

[bazfaz]

Off hand the only RAS I can think of is "onlyMark". There is no other round here (or the Pot), only "Mark".

[bixaorellana]

May 13, 2010 19:27:25 GMT kerouac2 said:

I would cringe in school at the American southernism 'ink pen'.

Oh sheesh ~~ you are just too precious for words. How would you know any different back when you were in school, anyway?

"Ink pen" usually means a fountain pen, to differentiate it from a ballpoint. My theory, upon which I'd be glad to expound, is that English is a language with built-in rhythm and that many regionalisms seem to be unconsciously in service to the local rhythm.

I believe tuna fish is a remnant of the older English (from England) usage of tunny fish. But other US southernisms, such as silver dime or collie dog seem to exist simply because they "feel" right when spoken.

[lagatta]

But lots of English speakers say codfish...

Edited to add: thought of a Canadian one - SIN number. That means social insurance number and not your pet downfall among the seven deadlies. (NAS in French - numéro d'assurance sociale).

[Don Cuevas]

I love this sort of thing.
I had a bakery employee who always referred to "salsa sauce".

[bixaorellana]

He probably lived over there in Vista View Estates.

I worked for a real estate broker in New Orleans who would refer to "those old faubourg neighborhoods".

[lagatta]

Oh, those real estate types here want to rebrand an old Irish workers' settlement as "le Village Griffintown".

Real estate English (or other languages) deserves a thread in itself. And they have won. Buy a home? You can't buy a home, you have to buy a house, flat, estate or hovel. Or build them. You have to make it your home. There are so many other examples.

Vista View and Ocean View Estates always look out on former cornfields, or reclaimed industrial land.

[spaceneedle]

"VIN number" is one I hear used all the time.

[bixaorellana]

Ha ~~ true! VIN all by itself doesn't even sound correct.

[onlymark]

Baz is quite clever but the origin of my handle was not 'the one and only Mark', more like when I walk into a party someone would say 'it's only Mark'.
Using words like 'tuna fish' is called Pleonasm -
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleonasm
Carry on with that if you will.

There are, of course, tautological place names also -
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tautological_place_names

I shall return at some later date.

[Deleted]

Have a good trip, Mark.

[bixaorellana]

I am very sorry, but Article 437/a-15 of the by-laws says that a person may not introduce a word such as "pleonastic" into the mix, then blithely walk away.

[bazfaz]

There is the place in Queensland called Townsville. (MockChoc lives near it, not that that is relevant; hence it is in brackets)

[Jazz]

This morning I woke up and thought, 'Today I'm in a pleonastic and redundent mood.' Then, I logged onto the Port to carefully note (as I often do) how many of us write pleonastically. Many, many, many, but we do have a few non-pleonastic writers.

Enjoy your trip, Mark.

[Deleted]

And of course while trying to think of examples of Mark's RAS syndrome, I starting thinking of all of the acronyms that we use without always knowing what the letters stand for -- USB, SIM and GSM are a few that come to mind.

Baz, I always assumed that Townsville was just named after a Mr. Town or Towns. But WTF is with this Baden Baden business?

[bixaorellana]

Maybe Mark flounced because of all the non-RAS examples? *guiltily slinks off*

[Deleted]

No, he said he would review our replies in a week, so we still have time to redeem ourselves.

[lola]

Dickens had a character "flounce down" into a chair per internet example.
I know for a fact (like that one?) it's possible to flounce around, because I have personally done it myself. (How many redundancies can fit into a sentence? Many.)

Sorry I can only just pad this thread with extra redundancies that it doesn't need.

[bixaorellana]

Ackchewally, Dickens was right and all of us internet denizens are technically wrong in saying someone flounced, unless we're making a specific comment on a style of walking.

www.thefreedictionary.com/flounce

you wrote: Sorry I can only just pad this thread with extra redundancies that it doesn't need.

Whereas I believe that recondite redundancies are always welcome.

[onlymark]

Well, what can I say?
Six out of ten for effort?
A good attempt but must try harder?
I sat in the evenings stargazing at my luxurious Finca in the olive growing region of southern Spain, listening to the gentle night sounds, feeling the waft of a warm night breeze tickling my senses and bringing the faint scents of excellent tapas from the nearest neighbour (a bar 2km away) whilst anticipating the moment of my return - to log on and review the collected knowledge of billions of brain cells (and that's just jazz) - and what do I see?

Accusations of flouncing, numerous off topic remarks, flouting of local by laws, extraneous historical facts and a general lack of discipline.

Actually, quite a nice read.
Ta.

[bixaorellana]

*Blush*

*Stammer*

We failed you, didn't we?

But we're thrilled, thu-rilllllled, I tell you, to see you back.

Now go solve my computer problem.

Please.

[bixaorellana]

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

I thought of one!

ISBN number

I've said that.