In Sherlock<\/i> episode “The Lying Detective”, the phrase serial killer<\/i> is uttered many times, always stressing the first word \u2013\u00a0as if the second were a given, even when (for the speakers) any killings are hypothetical. That impaired my enjoyment of a generally well-written episode. (Well, much better-written than its neighbors.)<\/p>\n
I’ve noticed the phenomenon before: when a phrase becomes a fixed lexeme, many people, perhaps most, are deaf to its components. For my ex, the phrase beef jerky<\/i> was in such perfect union that she often said “turkey beef-jerky”. Not Always Right<\/a> has occasional tales of restaurant workers and customers for whom the arbitrary name “bacon lettuce & tomato sandwich” does not imply the presence of bacon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In Sherlock episode “The Lying Detective”, the phrase serial killer is uttered many times, always stressing the first word \u2013\u00a0as if the second were a given, even when (for the speakers) any killings are hypothetical. That impaired my enjoyment of … Continue reading