The etymological explanation is probably that someone wanted to say "for
once in a blue moon" but then realized that in Oxford they don't talk like
this, so he replaced with the otiose "for once in a way."
O.K.
On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 8:16 AM, Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
ii. The report was, for once in a way, inconsistently right indescribing
his manner of life (for one first time)
iii. He seemed, for once in a way, to be at a loss for an answer.
(Implicature: exceptionally, for one first time).
iv. I should like to bring you up your breakfast, for once in a way.
(implicature: EXCEPTIONALLY -- as an exception, but don't expect it
everyday)
which should be enough to get at Wodehouse's implicature.>
This is specious because the same "implicature" arises in each case if we
truncate "for once in way" to "for once": so nothing in the above explains
what the additional words "in a way" add.
Dnl
On Wednesday, 15 April 2015, 6:39, David Ritchie <profdritchie@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
To prevent Geary from the merest hint of monism, let me express
solidarity. I have never heard anyone say, "For once in a way," never seen
it written elsewhere, never imagined a character saying such a thing. No
doubt P. G. Wodehouse's failure to learn to drive is important here. He
imagines ways as a pedestrian or a driven man might, not as a continuum
that requires concentration but rather as a stretch of Macadam with "onces"
in.
"Oh look," says the passenger, "there's a once."
"Not now," says the driver, "I'm minding the bicyclist, who's in the way."
Life was a lot simpler when, as the brass plaque on the end of a bridge in
Perth reminds us, drivers were required to have a man carrying a flag walk
in front before they could cross over. There were no piddling signs and
simulacra; there was a proper man with a flag to show the way.
David Ritchie,
Portland,
West End of the Road
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