More on tautology (continued from last week).

A tautology in logic, or rather warped logic, refers to a proposition that is either true by definition, or is necessarily true (which makes its statement redundant).

William Tsamis, in a glossary of philosophical terms, explains: "For instance, 'All triangles have three sides' is an inherently true proposition, but it doesn't tell us anything new". Tsamis hence calls it "a nonsensical statement".

In a journalistic example, reporters are advised against quoting officials when they tell the truth, that is, when the "truth" they tell is so true as to be meaningless. 

If a government minister says, for example, "Beijing is the capital city of China", he's obviously speaking with a clear conscience and making a heart-felt confession without trying to hide anything (pertaining to that fact) from you. But don't put that remark in between quotation marks and attribute it to him.

At a risk of sounding tautological myself, let me repeat. Do not write: "Beijing is the capital city of China, says the minister". A sentence like that makes both of you look silly. Quote the minister instead on something original.

That's not possible, you say? Well, I understand how rare it is to hear anything original from government officials these days. Still, it's no excuse for putting platitudes like that in between the quote marks.

Over there yonder across the pond, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, however, feels that Americans need to be constantly reminded of some simple truths even at the risk of sounding tautological.

Olbermann, who has often been critical of the current US Administration, explained some of his "anti-Bush orations" in a chat with Salon.com (September 11, 2006).

"It sounds almost like a tautology, almost too simple to be true," Olbermann said, before adding that what he does "is the sort of stuff people on television ought to be doing, and it doesn't matter who's running the country.

"The country belongs to the people, not to the government that happens to be in charge at the moment. We should remind ourselves of that fact periodically."

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.