Two post-election notes . . .

[Charles Doyle]

Katie Couric referred to Nancy Pelosi as the "speaker-in-waiting." That epithet struck me as a decidedly gender-marked, modeled (however absurdly) on "lady-in-waiting."  However, among the 10,400 Google hits, many refer to males.

Rumsfeld, in his "resignation" speech, said (eggcornishly) that his exerience as secretary of defense "recalls to mind" a quip attributed to Churchill. The locution "recall to mind" has 63,500 Google hits; "recalls to mind" 17,700; "recalled to mind" 27,200; "recalling to mind" 13,600.

--Charlie

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