Here and Now (WBUR), “Is It Acceptable To Suffer From Redundant Acronym Syndrome Syndrome?”

May 20, 2014

Here and Now (WBUR), “Is It Acceptable To Suffer From Redundant Acronym Syndrome Syndrome?” (May 20, 2014)

On yesterday’s Here & Now, host Jeremy Hobson talked about credit card fraud and said both “ATM machine” and “PIN number.” Listeners took him to task for his redundant language, since the M in ATM already stands for “machine” and the N in PIN stands for “number.”

Today, Hobson apologizes for his redundancy and turns to linguist Ben Zimmer to find out whether his verbal faux pas is linguistically acceptable. Turns out there’s a term for it: RAS syndrome. It’s short for “redundant acronym syndrome syndrome.”

(Show page)

Previous post:

Next post: