Time for another question, then

[desperance]

Is co-conspirator purely tautological, or does it actually mean something identifiably different from conspirator?

(Oh, and a related happy fact, just as a reminder, as it came up in the pub t'other day: when a species' generic name is the same as its specific - rattus rattus, eg* - that's called a tautonym. I learned that from LJ.)

*Barry Basilica doesn't actually count. Even if he is starting to resemble one.

Comments

[badbookworm]

Well...if you were part of a conspiracy to, taking an example purely at random, cause the untimely death of a crumpet-annihilating cat, and I was part of a conspiracy to blow up the houses of parliament, we would be conspirators, but we wouldn't be co-conspirators.

If we were in a room together, people could say, "Look at those conspirators!" and you would nod and smile, but if they said, "Look at those co-conspirators!" you would, quite reasonably, point out that your conspiracy was centred around cat-related frustration rather than actual treason.