Back Talk

If I’m mistaken about today’s error, I preemptively apologize and ask that someone enlighten me.

I’m not a fan of redundancies, as my regular readers know. If I see or hear “12 noon,” “mix together” or “revert back,” for example, it’s akin to nails on a chalkboard. My back arches and my teeth grind. It’s not a pretty sight.

That brings us to today’s question, and it’s not “Who killed Rosie Larsen?” In this old TV Guide article about the AMC drama The Killing, is “two back-to-back” redundant? I think so.

In the article, back-to-back is used as an adjective that means coming one after the other (one). One and one equal an implicit two. Back-to-back is clear; adding a lead-in two is unnecessary. Yet I come across phrases such as “two back-to-back days” and “two back-to-back games” more frequently than I encountered red herrings during the first season of The Killing.

Am I wrong about this?

If so, I’ll back down.