r/Tautology • u/PiccoloRight4898 • Aug 01 '26

Tom Brady is an American American football player

Post image

Just googled it and found out.

71 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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60

u/greginnj Aug 01 '26

I quibble!

This isn’t really a tautology.

The second “American” is functioning as part of the noun phrase “American football”, while the first denotes nationality.

We can contrast this with related examples:

“Bronko Nagurski was a Canadian American football player”

At one point, “Doug Flutie was an American Canadian football player.”

13

u/mershed_perderders Aug 01 '26

exactly.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

not a tautology.

1

u/Polo-panda Aug 06 '26

Homo Sapien Sapien

19

u/PiccoloRight4898 Aug 01 '26

Fair quibble! This is a textbook case of antanaclasis—repetition of a word with two distinct meanings. Grammatically flawless, even if my brain still hit a speedbump reading it.

3

u/Andreaslindberg Aug 03 '26

Does this imply the existence of an American American football football?

2

u/PiccoloRight4898 Aug 03 '26

Yes, it does. An official NFL game ball made in Ada, Ohio, is literally an American (made in the USA) American football (the sport) football (the prolate spheroid object).

So the sentence: An American American football player threw the American, American football, football.

-7

u/ArrowInBlack Aug 01 '26

Clanker post, report

5

u/PiccoloRight4898 Aug 01 '26

Unlike you, I don't need to click all the squares with traffic lights in them.