BTW, Could somebody give me a few really good examples of a tautology? I've always wanted to use that word correctly, and I've never been fully confident that I got it right.
That’s a tough one. I know them when I see them, but I can’t think of an example right now.
A sentence or phrase that, while technically correct, states the same thing twice and then equates them, thus conveying no meaning: "If you can't find what you're looking for, you're not looking in the right place." (Check for tautology if you find yourself tempted to reply "No $hit, Sherlock!")
Less severe: A sentence that conveys meaning but is unnecessarily redundant, as "I saw it with my own eyes".
Sometimes place names where the proper name is taken from a foreign language and the geographical feature part are in English are redundant. "Laguna Lake", "Glendale".
Essentially the opposite of an oxymoron like "Microsoft Works".