redundancy

CBS’ 60 Minutes will devote its entire broadcast Sunday to profiles of John McCain and Barack Obama. Steve Kroft explained the decision. “I can’t get into a cab or have a conversation with somebody on the street without the conversation turning to politics,” he said. “The country is totally engaged right now.”

Engaged, by definition, means “greatly interested.” Either you are or you aren’t. There is no need for an intensifier such as totally. Grammar Guard has little tolerance for redundancy, a problem that arose in Cindy McCain’s convention speech and John’s prime-time talk.

Let us give you advance warning: It is our natural instinct to critique the really unique word choices of total strangers.