# The exact same tautology that pisses me off. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 9, 2001, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-same-tautology-that-pisses-me-off/68220 "2001-06-09T22:48:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychogumby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@psychogumby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychogumby)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-same-tautology-that-pisses-me-off/68220/1 "2001-06-09T22:48:43Z")
One of the most blatantly obvious tautologies in common usage is to describe something as the ‘exact same’. I would have thought that by describing one object as being the same as another, the sameness being of an exacting standard would have been implied. It’s like saying two objects are the exact different. Whoever cooked up this abomination of a phrase should have electrodes with an live, standard household AC current running through them attached to their nipples and thrown into a bathtub full of extra-conductive water. Although, extra-conductive water is the exact same as normal water. AARRGGHH! Who put that phrase in that last sentence? Come here you … fire up those electrodes, baby! That’s my linguistic rant for the day. Think i’ll go lurk for another six months or so. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-same-tautology-that-pisses-me-off/68220/2 "2001-06-09T23:02:19Z")
People say “the exact same” for emphasis. Not similar but exactly the same. The same thing only different pisses me off. How can it be the same, only different? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-same-tautology-that-pisses-me-off/68220/3 "2001-06-09T23:03:30Z")
Piffle and pshaw! We need the phrase “exact same”. Otherwise, what would be the opposite of “a whole 'nother”? ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-same-tautology-that-pisses-me-off/68220/4 "2001-06-09T23:07:03Z")
Anytime my friends or I have used “same but different” or “same difference,” is when we are talking about two (or more) choices that are fundamentally different but have the same effect, such as choosing either a hot dog or a hamburger to take care of our hunger. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-same-tautology-that-pisses-me-off/68220/5 "2001-06-09T23:25:22Z")
George Carlin does about a 15 minute comedy routine on this, contradictions and such. It’s exceptionally funny. I have to say I totally agree with you on this one. (probably why I found this special particularly funny) If I could remember the name of this particular special, think it was HBO, I would definately mention it. He goes on to talk about pre-boarding airplanes. . . ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-same-tautology-that-pisses-me-off/68220/6 "2001-06-10T03:59:45Z")
First of all, _my own personal_ opinion about tautologies is the exact same. _Second of all,_ redundant pleonasms are _terribly bad also_, _as well._ ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-same-tautology-that-pisses-me-off/68220/7 "2001-06-10T14:38:13Z")
There is a (tiny) difference between “the same” and “the exact same”. 1. My shirt is the same color as yours. 2. My shirt is the exact same color as yours. The first sentence could refer to two shirts that are different shades or saturations of the same color, while the second refers to two shirts that are no different in shading or saturation. But I dislike “the exact same” because it’s an awkward construction. The same meaning can be conveyed with “exactly the same,” which sounds better, isn’t as awkward, avoids the clunky sounding phrasing, is more pleasing to the ear, isn’t as jarring, is more sonorous, and neither does it sound as bad nor grate, either. “So you’re saying that I’m redundant, that I repeat myself, that I say things over and over again!” _Fraiser Crane_ from _Cheers_. [hijack] Much worse is “That’s all well and good, but . . . .” [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-same-tautology-that-pisses-me-off/68220/8 "2001-06-10T15:26:20Z")
Well, I would note that in manufacturing (particularly of custom products), we regularly identify “same as except” orders. \< eg \> ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-same-tautology-that-pisses-me-off/68220/9 "2001-06-10T16:35:43Z")
Damn it people, this is human language, not computer programming. You’re allowed to use imprecise phrasing and rhetoric for emphasis and flavor. Do you really want to suck all the color out of the language for the sake of satisfying the overly-literal eighth-grade English teacher you had a crush on? The interesting thing about natural language is that people are very, very good at parsing it. If you say “exact same” or “most unique”, their heads don’t explode like computers that have been presented with a paradox in a Star Trek episode. Most people just nod and get on with their lives. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2001, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-same-tautology-that-pisses-me-off/68220/10 "2001-06-11T14:58:39Z")
I don’t like it because I think it’s a bad grammatical construction. If you want to emphasize how similar two things are, what’s wrong with “exactly the same”?