Grammar Moses: My first column ever with no redundancies

It's always nice to find a kindred spirit, and I've found one in veteran reporter Eric Peterson.

He will flag me down in the newsroom for rulings on word choice now and then, but he also will give me interesting grist for this column.

While we were attending a Martin Luther King Jr. dinner in Hoffman Estates recently, he leaned over and told me about some flawed logic he had heard recently in a radio weather report:

"As we were enduring our deep freeze, the reporter on the radio talked about temperatures gradually rising over the next two days before 'going up to freezing' on the third day. It particularly grabbed my attention because my hands were already numb on the steering wheel. I thought that 'going up to thawing' might be a more accurately descriptive way - or at least more reassuring way - of saying what he was trying to."

Welcome to the word nerd club, Eric.

It had been "freezing" for many days. Warming up to "freezing" is illogical. Of course, we knew the reporter was referring to the freezing point of water, but without saying that it does sound rather goofy.

Redundancy

I've written before about redundancy and how it can fatten your writing and - worse - make you sound like a troglodyte.

"What I find irritating is a salesperson pointing out items and saying, 'these ones' and 'those ones,' wrote Marilyn Ziegler of Elgin.

In both cases, "ones" is understood. It's part of the definition of "these" and "those."

Tom Connelly of Schaumburg pointed out that writing Billy Joel is "the first artist ever to play Wrigley Field four years in a row" could have been shortened. "Ever," he said, is superfluous.

While we're baring our souls, I get goose bumps - in a bad way - when people say "9 a.m. in the morning."

The "a.m." is an abbreviation for the Latin ante meridiem, meaning "before midday," so there is no reason to tack on "in the morning."

I'm similarly bothered when, as I heard someone on the radio said: "the 50-year anniversary."

The root word of "anniversary" is annus, which is Latin for "year."

That's like writing: "I spent $30,000 dollars on that car."

Really? What is that dollar sign there for if you choose to write out "dollar"?

Inaugural

I know this is a little after the fact, so save it for the next go-round.

"Inaugural" is an adjective: inaugural address, inaugural parade, inaugural ball, inaugural ball gown, inaugural beer cozy.

"Inaugural" also can be used as a noun - specifically as an abbreviation for "inaugural speech" - but I've heard it misused so often as a noun to describe the inauguration itself or one of the balls and I'm sure many other things. It's sometimes difficult to know what people are talking about when using "inaugural" as a noun, unless they're talking about the big speech.

Gentlemanly

Angie Battin of Inverness wrote to tell me about her pet peeve: "When I hear a reporter call a criminal or an alleged criminal a 'gentleman,' rather than a 'man,' it grates on me. Seldom are the crimes they've committed, or are alleged to have committed, gentle."

I agree with you, Angie. Calling someone a "gentleman" or a "lady" lends a value judgment about that person's social skills, so we avoid it in my line of work. Especially in crime stories.

Cops, who tend to see the worst in human behavior, tend to use it a lot in news conference situations. I've been told they do that to avoid sounding ogreish.

Nowhere in our legal system does it say someone should be considered a gentleman unless proven guilty by a court of law.

For those of you are wondering from which amendment to the Constitution comes the idea of innocent until proven guilty, the answer is none.

It's in Article 11 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The concept goes as far back as Ancient Rome.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.