Completely spurious words

[Johnnytheboy]

Does anyone else notice words that get added to sentences or phrases that seem to add precisely nothing to the meaning?
Examples:

'Pan' in the phrase 'pan-fried'

'Town' in the phrase 'town house'

'Family' in the phrases 'family bathroom' or (seen today on PH) 'family dog'

'Sporty' in any description of a component of a car, such as the lights.

Finally, and most egregiously, 'artisan' as a prefix to any trade/manufacture/retail activity.

Am I the only person that notices this nonsense?

[toasty]

Pan fried is to distinguish from deep fried.

Town house is separate from your country pile if you're wealthy enough to have both.

[Monkeylegend]

Completely.

They are either spurious or not

[Dr Jekyll]

Unexploded in the term 'unexploded bomb'.

[Mike335i]

Family bathroom as opposed to en-suite. Town House is a style of house so does add meaning as of course does pan fried.

But yeah, artisan, bijoux, designer etc etc are just marketing

[snake_oil]

Do you mean superfluous?

[geeks]

snake_oil said:

Do you mean superfluous?

I was going to ask the same thing, which seeing as you had, makes my post a little... well.... superfluous!

[eldar]

snake_oil said:

Do you mean superfluous?

Most cromulent.

[geeks]

Although to contribute:
Quorn Vegan Chicken Free Slices

If it's vegan, why does it need "Chicken free" in the title? Also given it is quorn, does it really need Vegan in the title as well?

It can be diluted to; Quorn Slices

[Johnnytheboy]

toasty said:

Pan fried is to distinguish from deep fried.

Yes but in >90% the default would be to pan fry it.

I once saw a menu in a pub selling "pan-fried fillet of beef served with french-fried potatoes".

[ellroy]

On the menu piece a bugbear of mine ‘hens’ egg’.

99.9% eggs used are from hens in cooking, if it’s the other 0.1% spell it out, other than that we'll figure it out!!

[deadtom]

geeks said:

Although to contribute:
Quorn Vegan Chicken Free Slices

If it's vegan, why does it need "Chicken free" in the title? Also given it is quorn, does it really need Vegan in the title as well?

It can be diluted to; Quorn Slices

I am fairly sure certain Quorn products use egg as a binding agent, and therefore are not vegan.

But I agree with your other point, I think it should be 'chicken style' so that it gives you some idea of the size and shape that the quorn mush has been pressed into.

[Johnnytheboy]

ellroy said:

On the menu piece a bugbear of mine ‘hens’ egg’.

99.9% eggs used are from hens in cooking, if it’s the other 0.1% spell it out, other than that we'll figure it out!!

That's exactly what I mean.

If I went into an artisan cafe and the menu included "pan-fried hen's egg", I'd leave and return to my townhouse, and probably throw up in the family bathroom.

[Johnspex]

Architect designed when used about houses.
Surely all houses are designed by an architect. They're not designed by the local butcher,are they?


Speaking of which, family butchers. Do you want your family butchered?

[av185]

The exact same thing.

The whole wide world.

[deadtom]

Dr Jekyll said:

Unexploded in the term 'unexploded bomb'.

unexploded implies a dangerous object that may yet explode if disturbed.

unexploded ordnance (UXO) are a very different thing to deactivated items, or empty casings, or gate guardians or live munitions that have yet to be used etc

[geeks]

deadtom said:

geeks said:

Although to contribute:
Quorn Vegan Chicken Free Slices

If it's vegan, why does it need "Chicken free" in the title? Also given it is quorn, does it really need Vegan in the title as well?

It can be diluted to; Quorn Slices

I am fairly sure certain Quorn products use egg as a binding agent, and therefore are not vegan.

But I agree with your other point, I think it should be 'chicken style' so that it gives you some idea of the size and shape that the quorn mush has been pressed into.

Fair enough I would settle for Quorn Vegan Slices. However the whole "chicken style" would still irritate me (1st world problems I know)

[Johnnytheboy]

Ooh, another one, triggered by what johnspex said.

I sell pot plants to businesses. But even I don't know what "architectural" plants are, though I get asked for them often enough. I think it means "upright and a bit spiky".

On the same basis "tailored" (e.g. 'tailored shorts') when describing clothing.

By the way, superfluous would be the word.

[Johnnytheboy]

deadtom said:

Dr Jekyll said:

Unexploded in the term 'unexploded bomb'.

unexploded implies a dangerous object that may yet explode if disturbed.

unexploded ordnance (UXO) are a very different thing to deactivated items, or empty casings, or gate guardians or live munitions that have yet to be used etc

Again, the default state for a bomb is unexploded.

[geeks]

Johnspex said:

Speaking of which, family butchers. Do you want your family butchered?

Some of them, yes!