ещё раз о whom

[avva]

Цитата:

Degarmo lunged past the desk towards an open elevator beside which a tired old man sat on a stool waiting for a customer. The clerk snapped at Degarmo's back like a terrier.

"One moment, please. Whom did you wish to see?"

Degarmo spun on his heel and looked at me wonderingly. "Did he say 'whom'?"

"Yeah, but don't hit him," I said. "There is such a word."

Degarmo licked his lips. "I knew there was," he said. "I often wondered where they kept it."

-- Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake

Если непонятно, почему это смешно, см. старую запись на ту же тему с другим примером и объяснением.

Роман, кстати, опубликован в 45-м году, т.е. whom в разговорной речи воспринималось как маньеризм уже тогда.