Dear ewein: I finally remembered a "literalist" anecdote. Not one I committed, I'm still trying to remember one of those. Fifty years ago a stalled car with a stick shift could have engine cranked by being pushed with clutch out, then letting clutch in. Cars with automatic shift had to be pushed faster. So a guy with stalled automatic shift car told a woman who offered to help him that he had to be pushed at 35 mph. She backed way up and rammed into him at 35 mph.