Diane Sawyer hedging her bets

[Joel S. Berson]

At 3/22/2011 07:31 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>Another reversal:
>
>We've discussed, as has Language Log at various intervals, the
>problems in sorting out "can't underestimate" and its relatives.
>Here's Diane Sawyer on tonight's episode of ABC World News Tonight on
>the lead story:
>
>"It would be hard to imagine, or underestimate [pause]..., or
>overestimate, what it must have been like" when those two American
>airmen were forced to bail out and land in Libya.

It wasn't a very long pause, however, and I thought it might equally
well have been a tongue slip as a brain slip.

Joel

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