Rice Paddy Redundant

You know those annoying guys that know everything about everything? Well, I'm not one of them.

But perhaps even more annoying, I know a little something about a lot of things. It's the nature of my profession: to soak up random facts and tidbits of information. So when a topic comes up in conversation, I can usually–and often do–throw in a factoid. One of my friends actually finds it amusing, not annoying. Go figure.

A recent example: rice paddy. We've all heard the term. But did you know that it's etymologically redundant?

Paddy comes from the Malay word padi, meaning rice. So technically, "rice paddy" means "rice rice."

Rice field or paddy field are preferred where I work. But sometimes we let it stand if it adds "flavor" to a story.

That's your factoid for today.

"Go tend my rice paddy" T-shirt available at Zazzle.com