What’s with the “extra extra”, “round round” and “red red” adjectives in the English advertisements in India and in our own speech? Some of us are notorious for using duplicate words or two or more superfluous words when we communicate. I think the urge to stress something makes us do this. It’s becoming a cultural idiosyncrasy.  It is funny and sometimes cute.  And it makes us laugh which is fine. But I think you can speak better if you want to. Examples are below.

Incorrect:

  1. How red red she is!  (I heard this somewhere.  I wonder if this person was trying to say ‘Gore Gore’?)
  2. How black black her hair is!
  3. How round round it is!
  4. Get the extra extra benefit.

 Correct:

  1. How fair she is! (assuming that ‘red red’ meant ‘gore gore’) or if you want to stress it, say something like ‘How bright and fair she is’ or ‘How wonderfully fair she is’.
  2. How black her hair is Or How lustrous and black her hair is (for emphasis)!
  3. How perfectly round it is!
  4. Get the extra benefit. Or if you feel like stressing it more, find another adjective as in ‘Get the delightful extra benefit’!

Keep in mind these options A) A single word itself is enough and there is no need to stress it more – ex: ‘extra’ may be just fine by itself. B) if you’d like to stress it further, think of an adjective that aptly expresses the additional stress you want to give. When you do this, try not to use an adjective which means the same as the first one. For instance, don’t use superfluous words as in ‘Get the additional extra benefit’.


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