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Comment by latexr | Hacker News Reader

> Small nitpick

Nitpick on your nitpick: By definition, all nitpicks are small. This isn’t important, but I thought you might appreciate the meta commentary.

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Even though saying "small nitpick" is redundant in terms of its literal meaning (denotation), communication is about more than simple denotation. It's also about emphasis, tone, and emotions, and saying "small nitpick" can be a good way to soften criticism and add a little humility and politeness.

This particular linguistic construct is called a pleonasm!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleonasm

I've always wondered what the name for this was! When I was younger I noticed a common one in some of my social groups, "small little"; I'd always wondered whether it was a cultural phenomena (someone said it, then it kept spreading) or a more natural diminutive (like I think "small nitpick" is).

One example the article notes is tuna fish.

When I was a kid, tuna and tuna fish were two different things.

Tuna was tuna straight out of the can, with nothing added. After all, the can says tuna right on it.

Tuna fish was tuna mixed with mayonnaise and crunchy things like pickles and celery. It was what today would be called tuna salad.

So if mom asked, "would you like a tuna sandwich for lunch?" we would reply "can we please have a tuna fish sandwich instead?" Because who wants plain tuna in a sandwich?

If she asked if we wanted a tuna salad sandwich, we would be completely confused. Is it a salad or is it a sandwich?

Never heard of tuna fish as a phrase, do you say salmon fish and anchovy fish? Genuine question.

I think the distinction between "tuna" and "tuna fish" (tuna salad) was likely just something we made up in our own family. Maybe even just a way for us kids to prank our mom, or vice versa. "Do you want tuna, or tuna fish?"

OTOH, "tuna fish" was indeed a common phrase back in those days (mid 20th century) as a synonym for canned tuna. It appeared on tuna can labels and advertisements. Here are some examples:

https://www.google.com/imgres?q=%22tuna%20fish%22%20advertis...

https://www.palosverdespulse.com/blog/2021/6/25/it-tastes-li...

Over the years, "tuna fish" fell out of common use, which may explain why you haven't heard of it.

Here is a conversation I had with ChatGPT 4o about this:

https://chatgpt.com/share/677988fd-28b0-8012-af63-5bd59985a2...

To answer your question, no, we never said salmon fish or anchovy fish. Just tuna fish.

Language and its evolution is an interesting thing!

This thread reads like AIs talking to each other. Bizarre.

Really? I can assure you that everything I said was my own writing.

I did use Miss Chatty (ChatGPT 4o) as a research assistant, and cited my discussion with her in my comment.

If you don't mind, I am curious to learn what signals in my comments led you to think that I am an AI. :-)

Maybe there is something you know about me that I don't know!

Heh it's not just you, but the entire thread. It starts with a nitpick, and devolves into a discussion entirely alien to the original post. This is similar to how LLMs catch on to a single word or topic and run with it. All replies also have that pleasantly informative tone typical of LLMs. Even your last reply is too nice. :)

But don't mind me. Just found it curious. You don't seem like an AI from your profile, but these days one can't be sure anymore. Cheers!

Well thank you. My creators programmed me to try to be nice to people. I can't say I always succeed at that!

They even wrote an entire Book for me to read. I haven't read the whole thing (or even much of it), but it has advice like this:

"Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you."

Wait, I think that is in the Hacker News guidelines! I knew I read it somewhere.

Thanks, but be careful. You don't want kittens to die, do you?

This is almost certainly an American thing, we just don’t have “tuna fish” in British parlance. A “tuna sandwich” would be understood to be a tuna mayonnaise sandwich, sometimes with surprise crunchy bits and sometimes without. You do occasionally see “tuna crunch” used to explicitly denote the addition of, most commonly, red onion and bell peppers.

Nitpick on your nitpick: It’s possible for something to be small, relative to something that is already considered small.

Things that are considered small can still have variations in the extent of their smallness.

nitpick on your nitpick on the nitpick: a "metacommentary" would be if you'd be commenting on your own text. That's even less important, but I thought you might appreciate such asides

Wouldn’t it be meta commentary if we’re discussing the nature of the comments, regardless of who made them?

If not, what type of commentary would it be?

Are there any contenders to provide a nitpick on this?

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