"laser light" a tautology?

[Davi5678 (Dave)]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser

Second line, surely "laser light" is a tautology?
What say the amateur science boffins??

[GeoffW1 (Geoff)]

Hi,

I think no more than "neon light", "sunlight", or Tooheys Lite

Cheers

[bojan]

"Laser" is a device that emits light.
"Light" is a light , and its not necessarily emitted by laser only.
"Laser light" is a descriptive term, identifying the light, being emitted by laser.

So, no tautology here, methinks

[OICURMT]

Should be re-written to say...

"The emitted light from a laser", or "The laser emissions" ... t

To be honest though... it reads fine except to those of us who are pedantic...

[Robh (Rob)]

Originally the word laser was an acronym for a process that produced coherent light of a single frequency.
LASER = Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

However, as Bojan stated, today the word actually refers to the device that produces the light.
In the context of this meaning, laser light is not a tautology. In the same way, a red light torch is not tautology. The torch is the device that produces the red light.

Regards, Rob

[OICURMT]

Originally Posted by Robh

a red light torch is not tautology. The torch is the device that produces the red light.

What about us American's who use the term flashlight instead of torch?

Red light flashlight? Doesn't sound correct... maybe just red flashlight... but does that refer to the color is produces or the color of the finish?

Hmmm.... English is a language of subtleties and nuances.

[Terry B]

To me the phrase "red torch" or "red flashlight" (for our US collegues) would mean a normal white light torch made of red plastic. It depends on the common usage I suppose. Red light torches are not very common outside astronomy.

[KenGee]

I was going to say the same thing as others. While LASER = Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. A Laser is a device a that produces LASER hence Laser light is fine.
A bit like KFC longer stands for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Funnly enough The company I work for change their name from Computer Science Corperation to CSC a few years ago. I wonder how much they paid a PR firm for that.?