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But what about phrasal gaffes that make just as much, if not more, sense than their correct counterparts?

Repetition has an indelible place in Black expressive culture: in the syncopated rhythms of jazz, the phrasal repetitions of the blues and the guttural moans of soul made meaningful by dint of remarkable vocal performances.

This rhetoric sounds nice—“free expression” and “in a democracy” are the phrasal equivalents of American-flag lapel pins—but it doesn’t amount to much.

Second, there are phrases, sometimes called “phrasal verbs”, that cannot be understood by knowing the component words: consider bear down or bear up.

Cline loves phrasal fragments: “The dark maritime cypress packed tight outside the window, the twitch of salt air.”