Question about "first ever"

"First annual" is just presumptive.

I always like when the freshman forward playing in his eighth game scores a career-best 14 points. Wow, really?

 

How about free of charge? We had that one run in a column today.

I feel the word free could stand alone there.

Drives me nuts.

 

Misuse of free bothers me far more than other extra words. There's no such thing as "buy one, get one free." If I have to do something to get it, it isn't free.

 

First ever is unnecessary. "Ever" is being used to make a distinction when none is needed.

However, my real pet peeve use of it is crap I see all the time:

"The win gave the Podunk Plodders their first ever district title since 2006."

 

Even worse is when the pitcher threw his first-ever shutout, allowing just two hits ...
Just is another unnecessary word that makes print too many times.

 

"Grand slam home run" thinks "first ever" is just fine.

 

I also hate "complete-game shutout." If he didn't complete the game, he wouldn't have the chance for a shutout. It's redundant.

 

If you're doing a story, you more than likely will have another graf in there saying when their last playoff berth was.

So first-ever is still unnecessary.

 

I'm less stringent on this one.

It is possible to throw "seven shutout innings" so throwing "complete-game" in there helps in terms of specificity.

 

Seven shutout innings is not a shutout unless it is a seven-inning complete game.

A shutout, by definition, is a complete game

 

Fair enough. Sometimes I think we tend to overthink these things, however.

 

Well, if getting it right without the redundancy is ovethtinking, then yeah, we're overthinking.