worzel

I saw a few signs on the freeway as I travelled to work this morning:

"No lines - do not overtake unless safe" - So what you are saying is do not overtake...but you can if you want to. I would have thought do not overtake unlesss safe was good advice even if there were lines, anyway.

"Advanced Notice - Feb 08 roadworks" - well of course that is advanced notice it is still January.

Even the ubiquitous: "Wrong Way. Go Back". Actually I thought I may just park it here and await the RAC to tell me what to do.

Anyone else got some of these?

Wendy

Not words, but some of my favourite signs:

asher

OMG Wendy they are brilliant!

gave me a good chuckle

Luke I Amyofath

Bollox


I thought it necessary

esperanza

Like those! I also like the way that the WAY is underlined on the WRONG WAY GO BACK signs, and the fact that they are clearly visible from both lanes/sides of the road so could easily be confusing! (for me anyway )

There's a technical term for unnecessary (one n or two??) words in a sentence, like oxymoron is for impossible combinations (deafening silence)... it has been bugging me on and off for months, what is it?!
E.g. 'stupid idiot' 'essential requirement' 'surplus excess'... can anyone put me out my misery?!

minibelle

Sorry no words, but still made me smile.

Luke I Amyofath

On a similar note, I cringe anytime someone says "irregardless"
so it's no regard to without regard ?

worzel

Two words with the same meaning are synonyms. I can't find a specific term for unnecessary synonyms in Google though. Gobbledegook perhaps?

worzel

It scares me that inflammable mean the exact opposite in the USA compared to the UK. (Not sure which meaning is usually applied in Australia)

esperanza

that is funny... in the same category as pacifically: "I pacifically told you not to do that!". Sure there are lots more we could come up with...

And yes the flammable/inflammable thing, why do they mean the same thing? Surely they should be opposites?!

NickyC

Tautology

esperanza

THANK YOU! Now I can stop trying to remember it!!

I looked it up on wikipedia, and it explains it extremely well - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tautology_%28rhetoric%29

(Although I did get hideously confused when I clicked on the other tautology page, which was to do with logic and looked like maths and hurt my head somewhat! )

edit: am now learning about many new kinds of words.... may start a separate thread! God bless wikipedia and all who provaricate on her!

Red_V_Roger

This is one of my favourites.

There are just so many bloody road signs...do this, don't do this, can do that, can't do that, can do but not a certain times. In NSW they love colours...pink slip, green slip, red zone and my fav. Purple Zone - is that for gay horses?

When in VIC last week ... I noticed their fav. is permits. No trucks without permit, no animals without permit, no grass cutting equipment without permit, no wine making equipment without permit (really!)

No wonder a missed the one '40 kph' sign on a road that is 80 kph...! (see my other post about speed limits in NSW).

worzel

I guess a tautology would be one specific (pacific?) example of circumlocution:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumlocution

"where the meaning of a word or phrase is indirectly expressed through several or many words"

esperanza

Ah, but don't get that confused with the rhetorical device of hedidys! I'm learning so much today! I pacifically liked the part about RAS Syndrome, it bugs me when people do it and now I know the proper word for that too! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAS_syndrome