'Small minority' is not a tautology, but it is still wrong. 'Smaller minority' is no exception either( take note OP). Small and smaller are both adjectives, and small is greater than smaller.
'Why is it wrong?' You ask. Well simple.
By saying 'small minority,' you are implying that there's such a thing as 'big minority,' and by saying 'smaller minority,' you're also implying that there's such a thing as 'small minority.' A more appropriate term would be ' a minority inside what is already a minority.'
There is either a majority or a minority - no such thing as 'big majority' or 'small minority.' So in a minority, you could have a majority and another minority, not a small minority - just as you do in a majority.
This is exactly why I think the OP was being a tad pedantic, and that became justified the moment she said it should be 'smaller minority,' instead of 'small minority,' when in truth, it should be neither. Its just outright crap (sorry)!

One thing I find annoying about English language (perhaps, u cld say "english language" is a tautology, but u knw wat, fck it! we're all guilty) is the fact that all of its rules are allowed to be broken after u've been taught the rules.
@OP, thr ar "grammatical tautology" which are "very much" "allowed and accepted" in "English Language". "Most times when it used" it either indicates "emphatic stress" or "makes our words colourfully attractive", "like... for more instance" oxymorons, idiomatic expressions, hyperboles and so on. Unfortunately, some grammatical errors (some tautology) are unforgivable.
We'r all guilty of it, I mean all users of English.

@Uyi Iredia & Vivly.
Both of you are bigger than what you want to descend to. There's no need to quarrel, please.
Nobody is perfect, even white people do make mistakes when they speak English, same way you do make mistakes when you speak your dialect.

*sigh*


I'm maniacally bewilder'd seeing these two(Uyi and Vivly) pratling so to say, just because of the so called ''grammatical tautologies''. I would rather you guyz rescind your discision as regards the matter of argument which I think brings nothing rather than poo all the way. I actually know what you guyz are up too, want to show us your intellectual abilities in speaking well constructed English all the way. #PeAcE

Vivly: I no dey vex o

U sure? Ur pretty by the way.

Uyi, leave her biko. I remember she opened a thread after reading my 'leaving Nairaland' thread. I doubt she would remember my old moniker anyways.

Reverse backwards

Uyi and Viviy, abeg continue the slew jare! No mind these peace-maker guys joor. Make we know who sabi tautology, 'grammer' and pedantry pass ....LWTMB

Uyi Iredia: I'm in the mood to f*ck up someone logic today



Humans are typically mentally dull. Especially these days. Why do you think the only words usually quick to recall in a song is the chorus ? Repetition, Vivly, repetition.



Some bloke might think you said only 4 and ask whether its in the morning or afternoon.
Here we go



Redundant for emphasis



Some minorities are larger than the others eg African-Americans, Hispanics



. . . so to avoid any possible misunderstanding we use the word 'personal' just to make sure.



Yeah ! Right after folks at MTN stop putting network after the acronym. The N in the brand already stands for network.



Some things are more true than the others eg all women have vaginas, or all women are sluts etc. Hence, the need for a phrase that doubly emphasizes the truth one forwards.



No, some experiences are past. All experiences were present. Many more experiences are possible in the future.



Stop thinking like you are in the 18th century, many adages eg 'Shine your eye', 'In doubt ask Google' etc crop up in recent times.

Prof. Uyi Iredia!!
Initially, i thought you wanna f'ck up Logicboy..
Muahahahaha.
8-)

SmashingM: Reverse backwards

Which one come correct? Reverse forward

Interesting

@OP I admit I'm 50% guilty. I'm tailing you for your comments on other threads though

This is all about Me. I Give up!

Etumgbe: Motor car

How?!
Are you saying a Motor is a car?!
You must be an Aboki.

wheesin: Kobolanders are usually cranked up... Did i just say kobo....


E.G
Walk on ur legs(my principal in sec school says dat alot)
Think with ur brain.. (no am thinking with my azz)
Shut up and stop talking.. (like wat da furck)

Other useless ERRORS
Rita dummynick
Banana manshuan



All by U KNOW WHO


ESE... EDOBOY 4 LIFE AND DEATH

your principal in secondary school? B4 na 4 primary school or university u go get principal? School principal would have been okay.

Uyi Iredia: .

I just saw one of your posts and honestly, you have no right to say I'm being pedantic. Goodnight!

Vivly: I just saw one of your post and honestly, you have no right to say I'm being pedantic. Goodnight!

Errm, I know that wasn't meant for me, but I apologize if you found the term 'pedantic' offensive. It was written without malicious intent ma'am.

Oh no! I came late to this class.

This is one of the reasons why this country is not moving forward!!!!we take someone else tradition,culture or language seriously more than ours!!!when u see a spanish man he or she is proud of the spanish language,when you see a french man or woman they are always very proud of their language which is french!!!you meet an italian man or woman they are always very proud of the italian language but here in nigeria we take foreign languages seriously than our own languages!!!!!if we feel that taking english language more seriously is what makes us very civilised then we are very wrong because are we trying to say the people in france,italy,spain,uk,and the others are not civilised that is why they take their own language seriously than any other language?we should learn from them,I weep for this country when I see some nigerians takes things too personal on english language even more than the people that owns the language!!!!!!

Leave story na irony

oche_ejemb:

Most of your so called corrections are misinformed. These are adjectives used to further qualify nouns, or simply commonly used idiomatic or colloquial English expressions.

From the very beginning is a commonly used English expression to show its from the "from the exact point when something starts". So for example, if you say "I started doing it at the beginning of the year", then you could mean anytime in January up till March possibly. However, "I started at the very beginning of the year" suggests that you started on Day 1 of the year.

Small Minority: Again, this may be right usage. If 1 million people make up a minority, is this still a 'small' minority, e.g Africans within the UK or US can be considered a minority. Are they small in size? However, Africans who worship Sango in the UK, or who commit crimes and give everyone else a bad name. These are examples of small minority when compared with the entire population.

Personal belongings: Can multiple people not share ownership of an item, or can an individual not make use of items which don't actually belong to them? I am using a computer which belongs to me (kind of), but I do not own it as it was purchased by my employers, but was given to me to work with. It is my computer, but It's not my personal belonging.

Honest truth: This is an idiom, an expression. Yes the truth should always be honest, but we are humans. e.g "The truth is that I was in class today", "The honest truth is that I was in class today but I wasn't paying attention".

Past experience: Experiences can occur in real time. Past experience suggests a considerable amount of time has passed between you having the experience (it didn't happen yesterday or this morning, or just now).

Old adage: 'Poo happens' is an adage. Is it old?

Haha weldone man.
This is just why I love NL. Nothing is sure! No one has d final word, as intellectual boundaries are constantly pushed nd known facts roundly challenged.
Its important to point out dat I endorsed ur contribution not because u wholely trounced d Op but because u chose to intelligently challenge somewhat valid points! Imagine me wey don already dey nod my head in agreement wit Vivly only to completely overrule myself on reading ur submissions. Way to go bro! But be careful not to stretch it to every arguement dat comes ur way as dat wud regrttably turn u into an APC appologist. Balance is key; win some lose some
Btw I particularly liked ur submissions on VERY BEGINNING, PERSONAL BELONGING & SMALL MINORITY
Cheers!

Most of your so called corrections are misinformed. These are adjectives used to further qualify nouns, or simply commonly used idiomatic or colloquial English expressions.

From the very beginning is a commonly used English expression to show its from the "from the exact point when something starts". So for example, if you say "I started doing it at the beginning of the year", then you could mean anytime in January up till March possibly. However, "I started at the very beginning of the year" suggests that you started on Day 1 of the year.

Small Minority: Again, this may be right usage. If 1 million people make up a minority, is this still a 'small' minority, e.g Africans within the UK or US can be considered a minority. Are they small in size? However, Africans who worship Sango in the UK, or who commit crimes and give everyone else a bad name. These are examples of small minority when compared with the entire population.

Personal belongings: Can multiple people not share ownership of an item, or can an individual not make use of items which don't actually belong to them? I am using a computer which belongs to me (kind of), but I do not own it as it was purchased by my employers, but was given to me to work with. It is my computer, but It's not my personal belonging.

Honest truth: This is an idiom, an expression. Yes the truth should always be honest, but we are humans. e.g "The truth is that I was in class today", "The honest truth is that I was in class today but I wasn't paying attention".

Past experience: Experiences can occur in real time. Past experience suggests a considerable amount of time has passed between you having the experience (it didn't happen yesterday or this morning, or just now).

Old adage: 'Poo happens' is an adage. Is it old?

[/quote]
u‘l make a gud english lang teacher
u backed up ur arguement with undeniable examples
am really impressed

^^^^^^'Small minority' is wrong in any form. Read an earlier post of mine to see why.

Hmmmmm.....yu guyz ova ere r xoooo funny......newaz,ah jhst got a lil contribution....Sum tautologies r accepted asin in d english world.....jhst lyk ''Joined together''_ds z totally accepted doe etz also a tautology cos 1-etz found in d bible n we r made tu blive dah derz a consequence for eni1 hu removes or add tu d book ov d bible.....Stand up n sit down_dese r tautologies too buh etz accepted in d Dictionary cos ov d popular usage ov ds wordz......

we need to [b]we need to "round up the case" so as to go home.

Free gifts
Today's modern technology
I also like it, too .

N100 naira.
Frown face..

Shrug one's shoulders
Dry lake.
Original copy
Emergency situation
Why are you all focused on the tautologies on my first post. I'm yet to see anyone who would disprove these ones. Oh Wait, it's obvious. These are tautologies.

amuneke-uto:
this repetition thing full everywhere. imagine saying crawcraw instead of craw, fufu instead of fu, mumu instead of mu and wakawaka instead of waka.

kuli instead of Kuli-kuli, bye, instead of bye-bye, fine inse fine-fine, Jedi instead of Jedi-jedi and Yamu instead of Yamu-yamu.
Ahahahaha..

amuneke-uto:
this repetition thing full everywhere. imagine saying crawcraw instead of craw, fufu instead of fu, mumu instead of mu and wakawaka instead of waka.

kuli instead of Kuli-kuli, bye, instead of bye-bye, fine instead of fine-fine, Jedi instead of Jedi-jedi and Yamu instead of Yamu-yamu.
Ahahahaha..

i'm so disappointed in Uyi, I thought he was a full grown man who wouldn't pick up quarrel with ladies, now its obvious he aint who I thought he was.

@Uyi, grow up or look for your equal to fight with (you can try logicboy).

@Vivly, there's none perfect, you also got some wrong-but that's for another day.

Reverse Back- Its either you reverse, or you back up
Night Vigil- All vigils are meant to be done at night
Sue to court- Is there any other place you can sue someone?

Hero10001:
kuli instead of Kuli-kuli, bye, instead of bye-bye, fine instead of fine-fine, Jedi instead of Jedi-jedi and Yamu instead of Yamu-yamu.
Ahahahaha..

hahaha..lol... These guys eh! Huna no go kill person.

[quote
author=A-ZeD]
You are the one who is wrong here. Context, Figure of speech all play a
role in a sentence e.g the sentence 'if you've seen one of the Johnson
boys, you've seen them all' is not tautology but a figure of speech to
connote that the Johnson boys look alike. [/quote]
i agree totally with you man. i was just about saying that

Vivly: Free gifts
Today's modern technology
I also like it, too .

N100 naira.
Frown face..

Shrug one's shoulders
Dry lake.
Original copy
Emergency situation
Why are you all focused on the tautologies on my first post. I'm yet to see anyone who would disprove these ones. Oh Wait, it's obvious. These are tautologies.

Hello Vivly,
Hey! They are not condemning everything you posted because a few of the examples were right owing to their context of usage. Now, why do i get this feeling that you are actually being pedantic. Ok, we have seen these one's, thumbs up for bringing them to the fore! Thank you! Are you satisfied now? Good Night.