I spoke to a delightful Rotary group Tuesday night in Monte Rio. It’s pretty far from Oakland and I’d had two glasses of wine and driving the River Road at night can be tricky, so the people at Highland Dell graciously put me up. On my drive home this morning I was listening to the radio and some announcer said, “It’s the single greatest” something or other. I forget the something or other.

The “single greatest” construction makes me cringe. What is the function of single in that sentence? I believe it has none.

Compare these examples. It was the greatest game the Niners ever played. It was the single greatest game the Niners ever played.

Both sentences mean exactly the same thing which means “single” adds nothing, is redundant, sounds bad and gets in the way.