Grammar Moses: Which presidents were men of action?

I wrote once about the difference between redundancy (bad if you're a writer, good if you're an astronaut) and repetition.

Redundancy in writing is exemplified by the semi-fictional washed-up rock band Spinal Tap titling its song "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight."

It was so titled to lampoon the redundancy and more than occasional idiocy of rock lyrics.

Redundancy in writing clutters it. Repetition is a handy tool in learning and can help one drive home a point or develop a cadence.

Here are some examples of redundancy:

I heard a radio ad that talked about a "painful sore throat." Hmmmmmm. When is a sore throat not painful?

I read someone write "reiterate again." The re- prefix means "again."

Traffic reporters and newspaper writers often say "traveling westbound" when the -bound suffix suggests traveling.

To recap, it's better to say "sore throat," "reiterate" and either "traveling west" or "westbound."

Reader Peter Vandemotter of Mundelein wrote to tell me about a bit of redundancy that bothers him:

"On a trip to New Jersey several years ago I spotted a truck with 'City of Atlantic City' on it. I have seen this in Michigan City, Indiana, as well. And closer to home I once saw a legal notice from the 'Village of Elk Grove Village.' It seems to me that once you define a municipality as a city or village, there is no need to put that at the end. Am I missing something?"

I can understand why the leader of a municipality with "village" in its name would want to be called a mayor instead of village president, as longtime leader Craig Johnson does.

"Elk Grove Village village president" just doesn't roll off the tongue. And you run the risk of the business card printer screwing it up.

Interestingly, the village's website is bereft of any mention of the "village." It's simply elkgrove.com.

Men of action

Say what you will about President Donald Trump, but one thing is indisputable: He is a man of action.

And he has a name to match. "Trump" is one of the strongest verbs we've had for a U.S. president.

Sure, we've had Ford and Grant. But you have to go all the way back to Pierce for an even more aggressive verb.

This, of course, makes dumb headlines almost inevitable.

Can you name two more? (See the end of the column for the answers.)

On Thursday evening, when a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit announced it would continue to halt enforcement of President Trump's executive order on immigration, I got a quick call from someone in our advertising department who suggested (tongue firmly in cheek) this headline for the story:

Precedent trumps

President Trump

I'm sure you readers of this column would enjoy the brain twister, but it's probably not the kind of thing I'd want on the front page.

You don't qualify

Uniqueness is like pregnancy. There are no shades.

You aren't "pretty unique" or "mildly pregnant." You are simply "unique" or "pregnant."

Chris Maier of Vernon Hills suggested a column on words that don't take qualifiers.

"I'm referring to common words such as mix, gather and sift. Does one really need to mix together, gather together and sift together?" he asks.

I agree "together" is an unnecessary qualifier for those words, but one can still mix "thoroughly" or "gently," depending on whether it's paint or pancake batter.

The answers

So, have you figured out the remaining two presidents with verbs for names?

Hoover (colloquially,) Polk (homophonically) and Bush (voluminously.)

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.