"ONCE" OR "TWICE" BUT NOT "ONCE OR TWICE"

evasion-english

The suspect being questioned just blew it. Oh yeah, they did know the victim (sure, now that the detective slid over a photo of them talking), but they talked “only once or twice.”

“Once or twice”? Busted. Because, which was it, “once” or “twice”? Once and twice have less in common than five times and six times. I can understand not being sure if something happened five times versus six times, three times versus four time, maybe, maybe twice versus three times; but between once and twice? No way. I’ve been to Iceland. How many times, once or twice? Just the once. Not twice? No, memorably singular.

I’m angling for this representation:

ONCE ^ TWICE

but not

(ONCE ^ TWICE)

“So what. It’s just an expression.” Exactly: an expression. And it’s reasonable if you mean "once or twice is enough,” as in, “give it a stir, once or twice.” Prescriptively, sure. But “once or twice” doesn’t plausibly map to descriptive episodic memory. “Once or twice” is available as an expression, and then it’s easy to reach for where it makes less sense, as above. Or, it makes perfect sense above because it’s an example of using an expression to avoid the more incriminating expression. (The suspect did confess.) Because just as “once” is worlds away from “twice,” an expression is nowhere near expression.