>>>>>>Maybe it's not in vain. Serves several purposes at once - conveys the urgency to the listener, helps the speaker utter something fast without thinking, and at the same time they may ease up a bit after the utterance.
>>>>>
>>>>>A colleague at work got the Ten Commandments a bit mixed up: "Thou shalt not desire thine neighbors wife in vain".
>>>>
>>>>"and she's the only neighbor's wife and thou shalt not have other neighbor's wives but her"?
>>>
>>>"...other neighbors
' wives..."
>>
>>I actually thought about the other neighbor who had too many wives to take care of them all, but you're right, the rest of the neighborhood shouldn't be neglected.
>
>And the cow jumped over the moon!
>
>If you'd meant that then it would have been : "... and thou shalt not have
another neighbor's wives but her"
OK, you win. Just give me some credit for a nice try, eh?