blend: "slowly by slowly"

[Gerald Cohen]

   For those interested in syntactic blending, here's one I heard the other day.
A fellow named Rick Francona was being interviewed on MSNBC about
interrogating Saddam Hussein. Getting him to reveal his secrets
involves a gradual process of wearing him down, and during Francona's
explanation, he said that "slowly by slowly" (something will happen,
I forget just what).

   This is clearly a blend of "slowly" and "step by step."

Gerald Cohen