Wake up, dreamer, it's happening without you

[venta]

Thought for the day: is "advance planning" a tautology? Surely if you're not doing it in advance, it's not planning; it's just damage limitation.

Comments

[exspelunca]

Add to your list close proximity (a phrase beloved of local councillors), new initiative and past history.

[lathany]

Yes. Similarly my former boss always hated "moving forward" (unless applied to a character in a computer game with multiple direction choices).

Although, I suppose that "advance planning" could suggest for some really distant date rather than the next thing in the future?

[undyingking]

I think that was the original intention of it, advance planning being further ahead than just ordinary planning for the immediate. But there's probably a term like 'jargon devaluation' which summarizes how words with extreme meanings tend to end up getting used for everyday versions of themselves.