8/16/08

Ridding the World of Errors One at a Time


Maybe I'm just picky. Maybe its all of those English and Journalism classes I took. Maybe its permanent damage from studying The Elements of Style to death. Maybe no one else cares,
BUT...
... I saw this when I stopped for gas today and couldn't help but take a picture to share the redundancy with you all.
Doesn't "Prepay" mean "to pay in advance"?
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
PrepayPre*pay"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p.
Prepaid; p. pr. & vb. n. Prepaying.]
To pay in advance, or beforehand; as, to prepay postage.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
AND doesn't the term "in advance" eliminate the need for the "pre"?

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus
Main Entry: advance
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: Going before.
Synonyms:
antecedent, anterior, earlier, precedent, preceding, previous, prior
Do I have to do everything for everyone???? Sheesh!

2 comments:

Kokopelli said...

This is called efficiency...for those who have to hear something twice. *grin*

Michelle said...

i so agree with you. But in todays world there MUST be a reason that it was printed that way. Its always the dumbest of the pack that makes these kind of things necessary!