Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

I'll keep your perception in mind, Mike: teasing, not snotty. Perhaps
I let her bother me more than I should. She comes on like a house on
fire at times, but perhaps that's just her way.

I wondered what you were getting at. Then it occurred to me that you thought
"consensus of opinion" to be redundant. I took a look at a couple of usage
guides. The first, *The American Heritage Book of English Usage* is
descriptivist:

From
http://www.bartleby.com/64/C002/012.html

[quote]

2. Style: Parallelism, Passives, Redundancy, and Wordiness

§ 12. consensus

Many grammarians have condemned the expression _consensus of opinion_ as
redundant since a consensus itself entails a judgment about which there is
general agreement. But many reputable writers have used _consensus of
opinion,_ and some have defended it on the grounds that a consensus may
involve attitudes other than opinions; thus, there may be a _consensus of
beliefs_ or a _consensus of usage._ Nonetheless, the qualifying _of_ phrase
can usually be omitted with no loss of clarity. The sentence _It was the
consensus of opinion among the sportswriters that the game should not have
been played_ says nothing that is not said by _It was the consensus of the
sportswriters that the game should not have been played._

[end quote]

The second usage guide, *The Columbia Guide to Standard American English* by
Kenneth G. Wilson, describes itself as both a descriptive and prescriptive
guide. However, after having read what he means by those terms, it is clear
that it is just as much a descriptivist usage guide as is the American
Heritage guide cited above. The following entry does indeed seem to
accurately describe how the expression "consensus of usage" is used.

From
http://www.bartleby.com/68/53/1453.html

[quote]

_Consensus,_ many commentators insist, already means "an agreement among
holders of opinion," so consensus of opinion must be redundant. Not entirely
so: there are many kinds of consensus that do not involve
opinion--_consensus_ of political forces, of military tactics, of
ordinances, of evidence, and the like. Actually, _consensus_ (_of opinion_)
is in divided usage; its chief flaw is a matter of style: it is not as
concise as some would wish. Use it if you will, but if you do, be aware that
some people will judge you ignorant on what they are sure is a blunder in
usage.

[end quote]

I see nothing in the above which would lead me to object to "consensus of
opinion," nor which would justify your calling me "lax" for having used it.

I noticed that the earliest of the cites for "anytime" in a full-text
search of the OED also breaks this rule:

    [under "make, v.1" - 1997 additions]
    1841 T. CARLYLE Let. 21 Sept. in H. J. Nicoll T. Carlyle
    (1884) iv. 112 If at anytime a definite service can be
    done by answering, doubt not I shall make time for it.

It's possible that "anytime" was at first simply a variant spelling of
"any time", and that the adverbial sense of "at any time" only emerged
colloquially in the US some time (sometime?) in the late 19th century.  

Searching on the 19th-century sources in the Making of America database
<http://moa.umdl.umich.edu/> is difficult, as most matches for "anytime"
are actually scanning errors and appear as "any time" on the page image.
I did find some legitimate examples of "anytime", though.  The first is
in a transcript of a 1685 document and appears to be merely a spelling
variant of "any time".  But the others are used adverbially (all
appearing in reported speech, one in a peculiar eye-dialect):

    Youatt, William, 1776-1847.
    The dog. 1852.
    [From a 1685 document "in which a yeoman binds himself
    for the sum of ten shillings, fully and effectually to
    teach a spaniel to sit partridges and pheasants."]
    And if at anytime after the said Bitch shall, for
    want of use or practice, or orwise, forgett to sett
    Game as aforesaid, I will, at my costes and charges,
    maynetayne her for a month, or longer...

    Wright, Julia McNair, 1840-1903.
    A million too much, a temperance tale.     [c1871]
    "I've a good boarding-place, Mrs. Jillet, I can
    recommend it to you, anytime you happen to get out
    of service."

    Haliburton, Thomas Chandler, 1796-1865.
    The letter-bag of the Great Western, by Sam Slick. [1873]
    ... Ide rather trust to a jug messing fire, or not
    hitting his man anytime to side-arms, for them big
    wigs oftener ang fire than ang a man.

    Crary, Agnes
    Annals of the Upper Valley: IV. The Story of a Short Story
    Overland monthly and Out West magazine.
    Volume 30, Issue 179, Nov 1897, pp.423-428
    "Don't, it's like the grippe, after the first attack
    it's likely to return anytime."

    Miller, Joaquin
    Stampedes on the Klondike
    Overland monthly and Out West magazine.
    Volume 30, Issue 180, Dec 1897, pp.519-527
    Men throw down their tools and leave things and go off
    almost anytime, and often when we need them most to
    put on a roof or hang a door, but they don't stay long.