Talk:Tautology (rhetoric)/Archive 2012

It is what it is

Is this a rhetoric tautology? It seems to me that this is just a way of stating the law of identity. Perhaps it is an example of a logic tautology, but this very article warns about not confusing the two concepts. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.203.160.34 (talk) 20:33, 2 June 2012 (UTC)

Yes that is a rhetorical, as well as logical tautology. I think that line about confusing the two concepts is of dubious value. They really are the same concept. It's just that some people look at it in one context, and others look at it in a different context.Greg Bard (talk) 21:20, 2 June 2012 (UTC)

Repetitions of meaning in mixed-language phrases

"Arroyo" means small river (stream, creek, brook) in Spanish, not small canyon. Living in Arizona, I have learned that arroyo refers to a seasonal small river, one that is dry most of the year. So the little box with "Bear Canyon Arroyo" is not an example of tautology, but a local sign, "Rio Salado River" (Salt River river) would be a good example. 174.26.128.122 (talk) 17:48, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

Agree. Arroyo does not mean "small canyon." "Bear Canyon Arroyo" means "Bear Canyon Creek" No tautology here. Even if "arroyo" meant "small canyon" (which it does not) it would not be a tautology - an small canyon is not the same as a canyon: it does not repeat a concept, but it adds meaning to it. I'd vote to remove this example and use "Rio Salado River" instead.

 Done Wilhelm Meis (☎ Diskuss | ✍ Beiträge) 22:39, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

Examples section

The section "Examples of common tautological expressions" does not contain any references, and at least one entry lacks any explanation of its usage (possibly the result of drive-by edits?). If we are just adding things willy nilly I could throw "rate of speed" in there, since that is a tautology I have heard on several occasions, but that would be WP:OR without any WP:RS to identify it as a tautology. We should probably refer to a reliable secondary source for each example included in this section and remove any additions lacking references. Wilhelm Meis (☎ Diskuss | ✍ Beiträge) 22:30, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

Archiving

This page is over 100k with over 50 threads. Is there consensus for pointing MiszaBot here for automatic archiving of old threads? Wilhelm Meis (☎ Diskuss | ✍ Beiträge) 22:52, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

Support - GoingBatty (talk) 03:55, 26 December 2012 (UTC)