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RSSA Man is Not a Widow
Last night, not for the first time, I heard someone refer to a man as a “widow.” Not only did I hear this usage, I saw it headlined across a Powerpoint slide at the presentation I was attending.
In English a widow is a woman whose husband has died.
A man whose wife has died is a widower.
As widow is feminine in meaning, the regional expression widow woman is a tautology. That is, it says the same thing twice.
Another tautology inscribed on a subsequent slide at this same meeting was “the 100th Year Centennial.”
A centennial is the observance of a 100 year anniversary. Ex. The city council announced that the town would observe the centennial of its founding.
TIP: As I urged in one of my very first articles for DWT, Let the Word Do the Work!
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This redundancy is certainly a pet peeve of mine as well. I think the worst “fingernails on the blackboard” phrase I’ve heard was someone’s personal experience that was “deja vu all over again.”
Kristi,
Hear, hear. I mentioned that particular “scraper” in Let the Word Do the Work.
One redundancy that bothers me is “past history.” Isn’t history, by definition, in the past? I asked this of someone once and he told me there is history that hasn’t happened yet; that is, “future history.” My response was, “Yes. It’s simply called the future.” I can’t find confirmation of this anywhere, but am I wrong in my thinking? – John
The other week, I heard a speaker address a large audience and announce that there were at least two “centurions” in attendance. Turning around and expecting to see two Roman commanders, I realized that the speaker was celebrating the attendance of two “centenarians” who were not and had never been officers in the Roman army. They would have needed to be much much older than one hundred years old!
First Annual Fill-in-the-Blank (Conference, Seminar, Banquet, etc.)
I say it’s not annual until you’ve done it a second time. And I dislike numbering events anyway. Just a personal thing I suppose. Who care if it is the 39th Annual Berry Picking Party. Just call it the Berry Picking Party and get on with it.
“deja vu all over again”
I may be mistaken but I think that refers to a Yogi Berra statement. Berra was renowned for mangling the language but was beloved for his malapropisms– if that’s the correct term.
Thanks for pointing this out. I hear widow used incorrectly occasionally, but I always have to stop myself from correcting the speaker.
Could you do a comment on using “orphan?” Recently an adult acquaintance said that she was an orphan now that her father had died. I sympathized with her but since she is in her fifties. I found the use odd. It is correct in that her parents are both gone, but still I think the word is more for children.
Thanks and I really like the blog.
I think that “Deja Vu all over again” is meant to be a joke, because deja vu is the feeling that something has repeated, and then you’re repeating yourself inside the phrase.
I can’t explain the in-post examples, though. Those are just silly.