Silly tautologies

A friend of mine is a big fan of tautologies, or rather he's a big fan of pointing out when other people use tautologies, and I have to admit that until a few years ago I didn't know what a tautology was.

Movement of the people.

So for the benefit of anyone in a similar position, a tautology is when you use needless repetition of a word, idea or phrase in an unnecessarily repetitive way, or an unrequired duplicate manner.*

* That was a deliberate tautology.

Here are a few examples...

1) Mass exodus

There's no such thing as a small exodus. By definition, an exodus will always be massive. There's therefore no need to clarify that it's a mass exodus as that's already implied. A 'mass exodus' is therefore a simple example of a tautology.

Night owl.

2) Night Owl

Someone who stays up at night is often described as a 'night owl'. However, owls are nocturnal, so surely it should be enough to describe someone who stays up at night as an 'owl'. I can't see the need to specify a 'night' owl. Surely that's implied by the use of the word 'owl'.

3) Ethical vegan

This was a description I saw on someone's twitter profile, and my first thought was, "I'm so glad they clarified that they're an ethical vegan cos I really get annoyed by all those unethical vegans." #irony

Tuna cat.

4) Tuna fish

Are there any other types of tuna which I'm unaware of? Tuna cats? Tuna dogs? No, I didn't think so. So why do some people say 'tuna fish' when surely 'tuna' will suffice?

5) Forward planning

I'm pretty sure all planning is forward. If it was backward planning, then it wouldn't really be planning. It would be analysis.

6) Pro-Expert Toothpaste

'Oral B Pro-Expert Toothpaste' is, as you may have guessed by the name, a toothpaste made by Oral B. However, I can't help thinking the 'pro' part of the name is a little unnecessary.

Were Oral B concerned that their customers might assume it was an 'amateur expert', rather than a 'pro-expert'?

Swedes, pictured yesterday.
Editor's note: "Charles, that's the wrong type of 'swede'!"
Charles: "Oops, sorry!"

7) Fit Swedish girls

Finally, this is a tautology that the main character in one of my early books, Eric, highlights. According to Eric, by definition all Swedish girls are fit, so you don't need to clarify it and therefore use of the word 'fit' when used to describe Swedish girls is unnecessary.

In reality, however, attractiveness is a matter of opinion rather than a matter of fact, so technically speaking this one probably isn't an actual real tautology, although in Eric's defence I have to say that if anyone doesn't think Swedish girls are fit then they've clearly never met any Swedish girls.

If anyone else knows any silly tautologies, then feel free to leave an example in the comments. Or alternatively, feel free to type an illustrative instance in the replies!