PASSPORT OR INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT: WHICH ONE IS CORRECT?

PASSPORT OR INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT: WHICH ONE IS CORRECT?

I remember the robust interaction I had a month ago with an airport official at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos when I escorted my Son-in-Law to the Airport.

My Son-in-Law and me had arrived two hours earlier for a scheduled 9-oclock flight.

At the check-in counter, this smartly dressed lady asked my Son-in-Law:

"Can I see your INTERNATIONAL passport?"

"I don't have any international passport. I only have a passport," my Son-in-Law responded jokingly.

You know say I sabi look for (grammar) trouble anywhere I go!

The lady had a happy and cheerful disposition.

She smiled and repeated, "Let me have your international passport."

My Son-in-Law handed over his flight ticket and Nigerian passport.

And an argument ensued between us whether the correct thing to say is "international passport" or simply "passport".

The lady proceeded to lecture us on the rightness of INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT and the wrongness of PASSPORT.

"I've been working in this airport for many years," she concluded.

"This thing is called INTERNATIONAL passport!"

A few of her colleagues at nearby check-in counters nodded in affirmation and looked at us funny.

A few passengers in others queues nodded and murmured their support.

Because we arrived very early, there weren't any passengers on our queue.

So, I proceeded to give a free lecture on grammar and usage to the lady and other people listening.

I informed the lady that INTERNATIONAL passport is incorrect because it's a tautology.

Tautology is any wastage of words, that is, any unnecessary repetition of a lexical item or word without making your meaning CLEARER or MORE FORCEFUL.

There's nothing like international passport in Standard British English (SBE).

International passport is peculiarly Nigerian English (NE).

The adjective, international, isn't needed to qualify passport.

Passport is passport, okay?

I challenged the lady to google the phrase, international passport.

I also challenge you, my dear readers, to google it.

You won't find international passport in any reputable dictionary (Cambridge, Longman, Collins, Merriam Webster, MacMillan).

For instance, according to Longman dictionary:

"Passport is a small official document that you get from your government, that proves who you are, and which you need in order to leave your country and enter other countries". 

What's the point here?

Passport is a travel document issued primarily for the purpose of national and INTERNATIONAL travels.

There's no need for the adjective, international, in passport.

"Why then, does everyone call it international passport?", the lady asked.

I answered:

It's because of what's referred to as fossilization of error.

"What?"

"Yes, fossilization of error. Are you on WhatsApp?"

"Yes!"

She gave me her WhatsApp number.

I googled "fossilization of error" on British Council Teaching English site and sent the link to her WhatsApp.

I clicked on the link and the following popped up:

"Fossilization refers to the process in which incorrect language becomes a habit and cannot easily be corrected.

Errors in general take time to correct but a fossilized error may never be corrected unless the learner sees a reason to do so, e.g. if it is seriously hindering communication.