It's a PIN
It's not a PIN number
You can't have a Personal Identification Number Number
I get that it's what people say, but that doesn't make it right.
/rant
It's not a PIN number
You can't have a Personal Identification Number Number
I get that it's what people say, but that doesn't make it right.
/rant
The Department of Redundancy Department are hiring.
No it's not. "What is your debit PIN number" is not short for "what is your debit number that is a pin".
Nearly everyone that gets called out for it isn't really thinking about what PIN stands for and they certainly don't lamely defend it with this disambiguation excuse. The context in which people ask for someone's PIN essentially never has any accidental swap with "pen" or "pan".
"Type your pan on the keypad."
"Choose a 4-digit pen."
Please, English is bad enough, don't bury it with more bullshit.
As in, "PIN" is a name – not a macro that is supposed to expand to the decompressed phrase – and "number" is the kind. The name disambiguates it from others of the same kind, and the kind sometimes helps to disambiguate the name:
"Enter your number" vs. "Enter your pin" vs. "Enter your pin number"
"Go there and talk to the guy named Bob" vs. "Go there and talk to Bob"