At That "Point in Time"

       At that "point in time" was an expression used by the coterie around President Nixon who appeared before Congress during Watergate.   Both John Ciardi* and I wondered about that.  The phrase is self-contradictory.

       Can you have a "point" in "time"?

       "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line."  Points exist in space, not time.  You can pinpoint a location.  Time flows, it's fluid.  "You can never step into the same river twice" (Heraclitus), you will never experience the same moment again.

       Maybe some of those moments for Nixon, Ron Ziegler press secretary, others, were frozen in time.  The pincers of "Who knew what, and when did they know it?" re the Watergate break-in began to "pierce" the White House.  "Moments" became "pointed" (influenced the language), drew blood, felled a president.

       *in A Third Browser's Dictionary, The Arkadine Press, 1998 (originally published as Good Words to You)