Around About

[CaseyA]

Source

We no longer have one without the other, and on Wednesday around about noon, the 2008 destination will be announced.

Do you native readers think that either "around" or "about" could be dropped from "around about noon"?

[emsr2d2]

Source


Do you native readers think that either "around" or "about" could be dropped from "around about noon"?

"Around about" is tautology but frequently used. You could drop either, but I would say that retaining "around" would be better. With "about" I would probably put "at" in front of it.

...on Wednesday, at about noon...
...on Wednesday, around noon...
...around noon on Wednesday...

[CaseyA]

So, there is some redundancy in "around about".

[5jj]

So, there is some redundancy in "around about".

Yes, but it is frequently used, as emsr2dt said. It would not be used in formal writing, but in informal speech it will bother very few people.