Saturday, April 21, 2007

WHY TO INVENT A NEW EXPRESSION?


What do you think of the term PR relations? Isn't it a tautology (= redundancy, useless repetition)? PR means public relations, so why to repeat relations twice? Nevertheless, this term became common: 10,600 search results for PR relations in Google.
You see, the formal logic is not enough here. The real life is stronger than formal logic. If the real language practice feels it needs some expression, it will invent it.
Today there are plenty examples of buzzwords (= a neologism commonly used, like Web 2.0, podcast etc.). Buzzwords often have unclear meanings. They are typically intended to impress one's audience with the pretense of knowledge. They are often universal. They make sentences difficult to dispute, on account of their cloudy meaning.

So you too don't be afraid of inventing new expressions when you need them.

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