I suppose we all have them, don’t we – those pet peeves about the irritating way other people say things. Sometimes they can drive you so crazy you want to feed them a sock to chew on, just to get them to stop talking.

The worst offender I ever met was a former college professor, way back in the 1960s. He had an irritating habit of saying, “Today in class we will attempt to try to ...”

I don’t think I ever heard what came next, because by then my irritation meter was off the chart. I wanted to holler at him, “Attempt ... to try? So we’re not going to DO anything in class today? We’re not even going to TRY to do anything in class today? Today we’re just going to ATTEMPT to TRY to do something?”