Oh dear. My first line was meant to be lighthearted (see: winky emoticon), not defensive.
Yes, redundancies are an item on lists of common mistakes that good writers should avoid, and yes, “retreat back” is one, and yes, I typed that, and yes, I agree that redundancies are not often welcome in good writing. I suppose supporting their removal is not inherently prescriptive, but I do get the sense that h-core prescriptivists and those who would comment about missing a redundancy in a casual, conversational comment on a blog platform would fall into the same camp. At the very least, I see the Venn diagrams overlapping quite a bit.
Apologies for any errors in the above.
This has been fun, but I think I’m done with this particular thread of conversation for now. Thanks for engaging!
