"Is there footage of this thing gasping for breath for two minutes before expiring? I need some light comedy before bed."

Says one commenter on "SC cop killer Mikal Mahdi chose upscale final meal before he was executed by firing squad" (NY Post).

And there is this, from Mahdi's lawyer: "Faced with barbaric and inhumane choices, Mikal Mahdi had chosen the lesser of the three evils.... Mikal chose the firing squad instead of being burned and mutilated in the electric chair, or suffering the lingering death on the lethal injection gurney."

Having given you 2 sides of the death penalty issue, I will take the liberty to turn the topic to grammar — the lawyer's grammar. You shouldn't say "the lesser of three evils." It's correct to say "the lesser of 2 evils," but "lesser" is used when there are only 2 things. If there are more than 2, you've got to use "least" — "the least of 3 evils."

That "the lesser of 2 evils" is a very common phrase and "the least/lesser of 3 evils" feels new is evidence of our tendency to see our choices as binary.

For the annals of Things I Asked Grok:

1. True or false: You shouldn't say "the lesser of three evils." It's correct to say "the lesser of 2 evils," but "lesser" is used when there are only 2 things. If there are more than 2, you've got to use "least" — "the least of 3 evils."

 
2. What is the origin and history of the phrase "the lesser of 2 evils"?

3. Tell the story of Bill Clinton discovering "the third way."

4. Summarize the book "The Paradox of Choice."

5. Does ["The Paradox of Choice"] suggest why humans tend to see things in binary terms?

6. Tell the story from the documentary "Fast, Cheap & Out of Control" of the lion tamer explaining why it works to use a chair to tame the lion.

I'll just pass along the quote from the lion tamer, Dave Hoover: "Lions are very single-minded. When you point the four legs of a chair at them, they get confused. They don’t know where to look, and they lose their train of thought."

I love the idea that lions have a "train of thought." 

I return to Grok:

7. Does a lion have a "train of thought"? What is a train of thought? Is that a figurative usage with a more tangible original? What was a "train" before it was a railroad train?

8. What's that Wittgenstein line about the lion's thinking?

Grok asked if I wanted it "to unpack Wittgenstein further or tie it to Hoover’s lion-taming story in more detail," so I came in with question 9:

9. Yeah, tie Wittgenstein to Hoover!

You can read Grok's answers here.

Just as a caboose on this train of thought:  Thomas Hobbes noted the existence of the phrase "train of thoughts" in "Leviathan" (1651): "By Consequence, or train of thoughts, I understand that succession of one thought to another which is called, to distinguish it from discourse in words, mental discourse. When a man thinketh on anything whatsoever, his next thought after is not altogether so casual as it seems to be. Not every thought to every thought succeeds indifferently."

This blog is a train of thoughts! Don't try to tame me with a chair.