shocked = 'pleasantly surprised'

[Laurence Horn]

On Feb 25, 2013, at 7:15 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> At 2/25/2013 04:43 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> We've mentioned this before, but here's another good one. A yakking head on
>> CNN says he was "shocked" to hear Seth McFarlane's singing voice at the
>> Acade--- I mean at the Oscars.
>
> So was Claude Rains.  Pleasantly surprised, surprised, I mean.  He
> was expecting his winnings shortly.
>
> Joel
>
Ah, but the good Captain Louie was *pretending* to be unpleasantly surprised, surprised, or even scandalized, scandalized at the evidence of gambling.  The CNN guy presumably was not being ironic at the evidence of holding a tune.  Although youneverknow.

LH

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org