from sci.lang

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

there's a thread on sci.lang that started with Harlan Messinger's
passing on the (intended) spoken example "It ceases to amaze me
how...", which he was inclined to lump together with the
undernegation of "I could care less" and the repeated negation of
"irregardless".  it strikes me as a reshaping of  the formula "It
never ceases to amaze me how/that...", but one that can be understood
more or less literally, as conveying that the speaker is no longer
amazed at whatever it is, presumably because it's become so common.
lots of google hits, anyway, though only a tiny fraction of the hits
for "never ceases to amaze".

this led to a mention of "sort of speak" for "so to speak".  i noted
that this was already in the eggcorn database.

and then  "worldsender" <christopherjohnpain at tin.it> was reminded of
"I perish the thought", which was undoubtedly encouraged by its
appearance in Madonna's 1989 song "Cherish": "and baby I perish the
thought of ever leaving, I never would".

"I perish the thought" looks like a blend of the the rather opaque
idiom "perish the thought" and the somewhat formulaic "I cherish the
thought" (372 non-Madonna hits for this, compared to 199 for "I
cherish the idea", 12 for "I cherish the ideal", and 8 for "I cherish
the concept").  there are, however, 253 non-Madonna hits for "I
perish the thought", including things like the following, which don't
sound like direct echos of Maddona's "cherish... perish" lyrics:

She is so unlikable that I perish the thought that anyone would vote
for her
in the final two, and I cling to the hope that there's no one she
could ...
www.elizalou.com/journal/042304.html

I perish the thought of drivers out there taking this risk while I
and my
family use the roads on a daily basis. Anonymous Posted: 19/05/2004
12:46 ...
www.irishhealth.com/?level=4&id=3377

I perish the thought of having to actually "rough it" in the wild. Am
I sad,
or what? Hehehehe... What else? Oh yes, the kids have another half
day of ...
www.greenwitch.us/lani/archives/ 2005/05/just_call_me_bu.html

I perish the thought of Asses ever taking on a Rachmaninov concerto,
Rach
himself would roll about in his grave I’m sure". ...
www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s3i8333

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)