Euphony.
Not sure I'd go so far as to say this one makes me cringe but it always jars slightly:
"from whence"
I've recently finished reading Pickwick Papers and in that book, Dickens makes this error quite often. Though not consistently, which leads me to wonder if it's really him or the editor.
d.
... or the his characters' error? Sorry to resurrect this but I'm half-way through Nicholas Nickleby at the moment and forgot to put my copy in the saddlebag to read over lunchtime. I remembered Project Gutenberg and was reading it on the laptop when I hit a 'whence'. A quick search revealed 12 "whence"s and 2 "from whence"s, one of which is in reported speech.
For The Pickwick Papers it is 11 x "whence" and 2 x "from whence", one in reported speech.
Our Mutual Friend: 12 x "whence", 6 x "from whence" all of the latter in reported speech.
Bleak House: 5 x "whence" and 1 x "from whence", which is in reported speech.
Lunch coming to a close now before I can carry on either with Nicholas Nickleby or further whence-ing. Or, indeed, whither-ing.
That's all. Carry on.