Unceremoniously Redundant

I was reading a random fanfiction the other day (I think it was of the TV show "Merlin") and had a thought. I blame the thinking on the fact that I'd been reading fanfiction for the past few hours and my brain was getting bored. Anyhow.

Why do people use the words “sprawled” and “unceremoniously” together to describe people who are sleeping? I wonder what it would be like to sleep ceremoniously—observing proper sleeping etiquette, muttering polite things…or what? I don’t know…it just doesn’t seem like a very accurate description of sleep. I mean, people /always/ sleep unceremoniously. There has never been a case in which people have done the opposite (at least, not that I can think of and even if I could I probably would never be able to forgive myself for describing something like sleep as ceremonious).

Or perhaps I'm taking it wrong. Perhaps "unceremoniously" is supposed to describe "sprawled".

Right. Because there's even the slightest possibility of someone sprawling ceremoniously. Just had to clear it with readers so they knew that this case of sprawling was not ceremonious in the least.

I don't pretend to be better than that. I'm pretty sure I've used "sprawled unceremoniously" in a story or two...probably more than just two. It's one of those phrases that just flows, but this fanfic got me thinking: why do we restate the obvious? What is it with writers and being redundant just because it sounds good?

A few others that get on my nerves:

Huge big (because just huge or big wouldn't fully explain it?).
Let's continue on (because we wouldn't want to accidentally continue backward).
Repeat again (can you do it again again?).
Free gift (because I made you pay for the other gift).
Actual facts (because we don't want false facts, do we?).
Drop down (good heavens! Don't drop up!).

And so on.

And then it struck me: there is nothing new under the sun. Mankind is doomed to redundancy, because no matter what, history will repeat itself. Everyone does the same things over and over again...work, sleep, eat. People are born, grow up, grow old, and die. It's a cycle, and it's dreadfully redundant.

Except that someday, the redundancy won't matter. I've had days before that I wished would go on and on forever-beautiful summer days, days of rain, whatever. And heaven, I think, will be like that. It'll be so beautiful and wonderful and full of joy that even if every moment is the same, that's more than I could ever wish for.

Because if every moment is spent in His presence, than I have a feeling that redundancy won't matter anymore.