[Ads-l] QOTY

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Wed Sep 26 23:36:08 UTC 2018


> On Sep 26, 2018, at 3:57 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> There are lots, aren't there?
> 
> Bret Stephens in yesterday's N.Y. Times:
> 
> "[Ted Cruz is]  the type of man who would sell his family into slavery if
> that’s what it took to get elected. And...he would use said slavery as a
> sob story to get himself re-elected."
> 
> This is a more amusing variation of the classic ex. of "ad misericordiam,"
> viz. a man convicted of murdering his parents pleads for mercy on the
> ground that he is a poor orphan.
> 
This one I’ve encountered as an ostensive definition of “chutzpah”.

As far as QOTY candidates, my current favorite is "This is a tough hurricane, one of the wettest we've ever seen from the standpoint of water.” From the usual source, of course.

LH
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