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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Does the phrase „innovative new products“ sound right?

Nowadays it seems practically obligatory when speaking about something new to call it “innovative new”, e.g. product (a Google search returns over 3 million matches for the “innovative new product” phrase alone). I know that “innovative” also has a meaning of original and inventive. Yet, to me it just sounds completely wrong, to the point of being repulsive, and it somehow doesn't help that everybody is using it all the time. Is it just me? Does “innovative new” sound right to you? Can something be innovative without being new (try “innovative old products”)? What's wrong with saying just "innovative products"?
  

Top answer

Sometimes it's not that the product is described as new but the new product that is described as innovative. New products are not always innovative, and older products may have been innovative in their day.

— Fivejedjon

  • Sometimes it's not that the product is described as new but the new product that is described as innovative.
  • New products are not always innovative, and older products may have been innovative in their day.
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10 Answers
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Sometimes it's not that the product is described as new but the new product that is described as innovative. New products are not always innovative, and older products may have been innovative in their day.
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Thanks for the reply. I understand why “innovative new” could be more than a tautology, but the question really is whether it make sense to you, especially to see it used so often. It almost feels like salespeople have deleted the word “new products” from their Word spell checker and instructed the program to replace it with “innovative new products” every time. Normally, I am the first one to say
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We all have our own pet hates. Mine is 'limited edition', which frequently appears to be virtually meaninless. We just have to try not not let such things get to us.
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So would you say that I have added some useful meaning when instead of launching an "innovative product" I launched an "innovative new product” (over 100 000 Google hits for “launched an innovative new product”)?
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Clearly someone who launches an innovative new product is going for overkill, but I really don't worry too much about the language spewed out by marketing people. They have a job to do, and if upsetting us purists brings in an extra buck or two, so what?
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Well, OK, I suppose we'll just have to wait for that fad to fade away and let's hope the phrase that comes to replace it won't be even worse.
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Anonymouslet's hope the phrase that comes to replace it won't be even worse.
You need "phase" here - like a phase of the moon.

A comma is needed after "away."
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Avangi You need "phase" here - like a phase of the moon.A comma is needed after "away."
I think that Anon meant 'phrase', as in 'innovative new' or 'limited edition'.
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fivejedjonI think that Anon meant 'phrase', as in 'innovative new' or 'limited edition'.
I think you're right.
That's one of those long threads where an anonymous poster adds something that needs to be moderated. All you can see is the post itself. I thought he didn't want to replace a bad "fad" with a bad "next phase." Let's face it: I dropped the ball.
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AvangiI think you're right.
Indeed I meant to write "phrase", although "phase" could also have made sense in a way.
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