department of redundancy department
/dəˈpɑɹtmənt əv ɹɪˈdʌndən(t)si dəˈpɑɹtmənt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.31 in modern English
52
Scrabble Score
32
Letters
8
Syllables
13
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A fictitious department that is cited to draw attention to needless repetition or excessiveness.
Humorous
Example Sentences
- "Most writers can make the most startling advances in their writing simply by working to eliminate their Department of Redundancy Department."
- "It is a redundancy of information processing as well as other efforts. Redundancy can take many forms. Most commonly, it is two or more people or organizations doing similar work for similar purposes and producing (it is hoped) similar (redundant) results. The Department of Redundancy Department exists because a great many people are doing a great many similar things with identical but separate data. If the use of data were controlled, these people and things would be known."
- "Many students in graduate school make tongue-in-cheek comments about the redundancy contained in most dissertations: "If the sentence isn't in there three times, it's not important. … this dissertation resulted from a grant from the Department of Redundancy Department." Ellis's work is an excellent example of a paper written with every apparent attempt to avoid redundancy; it is concise, brief, definitely not wordy, and reports data on an important problem."
- "A Message from the Department of Redundancy Department: There is almost nothing less efficient than having to do a job over again."
- "A driver's immersion certificate, my fictitious wallpaper diploma, is not a prerequisite to receive a UAE driver's license. But it should be. Likewise, basic driving coursework is not a requirement. But it should be. In my eccentric dreams, I suggested to the Driver Education Department, a subdepartment of the Department of Higher Complexity, or possibly the Department of Redundancy Department, that the following classes become mandatory: Course – Basic UAE Freeway Driving 1A […]"
- "Ernie and I are reassigned to the Department of Wellness Assurance and Reassessment Information, better known as the D.O.W.E.R.I. Department. I laugh and say, "Only the government can start and end the name of a department with the word 'department.'" Ernie says, "Yes, perhaps we should report the repetition problem to the Department of Redundancy Department.""
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /dəˈpɑɹtmənt əv ɹɪˈdʌndən(t)si dəˈpɑɹtmənt/
- British English: /dɪˈpɑːtm(ə)nt əv ɹɪˈdʌnd(ə)nsi dɪˈpɑːtm(ə)nt/
Usage
Inflected Forms
the Department of Redundancy Department (canonical)
DRD (alternative)