Pleonasms?

Tyler Cowen (endorsing Horace Kephart) thinks that "I done done it" is a pleonasm, because the second "done" repeats the meaning of the first. He is wrong: the second "done" does not repeat the first, and "I done done it" is a different statement from "I done it." "I done it" comes very close to "the deed happened." "I done done it" stresses reflexivity, self-consciousness purposiveness, responsibility, as in "that was no accident, the bear mauled me on purpose."

I'd say the same in re many (not all) of his other supposed "pleonasms." "Women-folk" are not just "women;" they are women who are part of the tribe, for whom we menfolk (sic) are responsible. So, "preacher-man" is not just a preacher; he is a preacher whose humanity is being recognized.

"You-all" is, of course, not in any sense a pleonasm; it is a welcome attempt to restore the distinction between singular and plural in the second-person pronoun. And while we-all are on the topic, need a distinction (makeable, I am told, in some other languages) between "we" (including you) and "we" (not including you).

I admit I still have no idea what to do with "onliest."