Pedants' Corner

[Charles P]

Let's get back to pedantry, why do we have to "meet up with " rather than just meet? Or say "up until" rather than plain "until" ,tautology seems to invade when we look the other way. I did hear some pundit say" Looking back out it retrospectively..."

In John LeCarre's "The Honourable Schoolboy", George Smiley asks this question of the the Americans and their use of the phrase "meet with". He opines, as a German scholar, that it must be a German influence in the language. As someone who struggled to get a C in O level French, I"m willing to put forward George Smiley's suggestion with zero authority!

Charles