The Times, They Are A’Changin…

but that doesn’t mean redundancy isn’t annoying as hell

Of the many things I remember my grade school English teachers drilling into my brain when I was learning essay writing, the redundant use of pronouns was in the top five. When I got to journalism school, editing for grammar (and everything else) was caustic: I used to refer to my marked-up drafts as scorched earth. I became a journalist, then a book publisher, then an author. Now I’m also an editor, and so perhaps I’m more attuned (read: annoyed) to abuses of verbal and written professional speech. And the redundant pronoun seems to have become one of the newest fads in professional broadcasting.

I see it happening with increasing frequency in professional communication settings today, such as television news broadcasts. I see it with infuriating frequency spewed by not only professional anchors and reporters, but also their interviewees — government press secretaries, governors, CEOs and heads of NFPs. This, to me, is unforgivable.

Just because a thing becomes popular on the street doesn’t mean it should infiltrate professional communications. Your job as a journalist or spokesperson isn’t to be cool; it’s to communicate as concisely and clearly as humanly possible.

I’m talking about incredibly annoying superfluity such as, “the President he said we should all just get along…” or “My mom and dad they are very religious.” When I hear these, I can’t help it. I groan; it grates against my…