Here is another quote using the word. By an MIT Engllish faculty member. Which is still a bit less satisfactory than I had hoped for.:

Dropping prepositions in phrases like "let's hang" or "he
caved" is no lazier than dropping the preposition "to" from
the framers' phrase, "attained to the age of." The Gen Xers'
drawn-out vowels in "Neh-oh weh-ay, dih-ude" are no more
phlegmatic or affected than F.D.R.'s "nothing to fe-ah but
fe-ah itself."

Of course, my problem is that the word "phlegmatic" evokes memories of old-time rural Yankees: poker faced, slow to speak, and sparing of words.