by Richa Chaturvedi ’18

I’m often wary of repeating myself. Honestly, I’m a busy student with limited time in a day and repetition hinders my ability to do everything I need and want to do. So I’ve resolved to cut out the unnecessary time spent doing things multiple times, and I’m here to share my tricks with you.

1. It’s not chai tea.

Don’t even bother with this useless repetition. In Hindi chai means tea, so you’re basically just saying the same thing twice. No, you don’t want a tea-tea latte – only one tea will suffice.  So save yourself the time and trouble next time you find yourself in line at Starbucks (so tomorrow?)

2. Nope. Not naan bread.

Naan is Indian style bread that is usually paired with different combinations of vegetables and lentils. So don’t say naan bread. It’s weird and it sounds silly. You’re basically talking about bread, and then clarifying that you’re talking about bread, all in the span of two words. That’s called overkill.

3. Cheese quesadilla? Try again.

The word quesadilla literally has the word “queso,” meaning cheese, in it. So I think it’s safe to say that your quesadilla will have cheese even if you choose not to add the extra clarification. Guacamole is still extra, though.

Eliminating these redundancies can be a huge time saver. Maybe you’ll do all of your reading! Maybe you’ll make it to the dining hall before they run out of carnival cookies! There are so many possibilities and, for once, so much time.