a syntactic eggcorn?

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Fri Jun 10 02:30:19 UTC 2005


 From an unsolicited postcard from Mike Dusa, who runs a local "Center
for Wrist and Hand Pain Relief"...

I'm told this is my "Last Chance To Get [My] FREE Wrist and Hand Pain
Severity Evaluation".  (I should complain to The Ethicist at the
Times--see Arnold's posting of 30 May--that this doesn't seem fair,
since they never gave me any earlier chances, but as a good
neo-Gricean I'd have to concede that my only chance is trivially my
last one.)  So anyway, the first sentence of this invitation reads

"If you have been suffering from the debilitating effects of carpal
tunnel syndrome you will never forgive yourself for hesitating and
calling my office to discover the benefits to you of cold laser
therapy!"


Well, I have no intention of calling Mr. Dusa, so at least I won't
have that regret to live with.

--Larry, wondering if The New Yorker still operates its "Words of One
Syllable Dept."



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