I think NYT is being too harsh: this is just a clever way of enlisting a prop in your lie. Besides, what could you say to a date-- without any outside help, mind you-- that gets you out of the situation & comes off better than "I hate you"?
Chivalry not dead: I just stay 'til the end of dinner.
I agree -- too harsh. Also, what keeps the duped date from saying, "Oh, let me drive you."
I can't wait until Ogged's date's cell phone rings.
Hello?
Bill Laimbeer?
Right now!?
Sorry Ogged, you understand...
[Ogged found next morning, hanging from a Bad Boys penant by the neck...]
Phenomenal. If only I knew a woman who could set you up, as it were.
It's seriously a lot cheaper just to actually have a friend call you.
Don't miss the bigger point - a PhD in Language will get you one fifth of a gig writing excuses for bailing out on a bad date.
Now who says that the economy isn't creating new jobs?!
Yes, because who knows better how to get rid of a date than a professional linguist? "Then I started reading about the lambda calculus...What? You have to go? But I haven't even told my favorite Paul Postal anecdote yet!"
I dunno. "Professional linguist" sounds really sexy. Better than "professional phallicist."
There's a response having to do with the phrase "Y combinator" waiting to be made to FL's comment, but I'm not sure quite how to make it....
Oh, and do linguists really use the lambda calculus? Is Noam Chomsky a mad good unlambda programmer?