Degarmo lunged past the desk towards an open elevator beside which a tired old man sat on a stool waiting for a customer. The clerk snapped at Degarmo's back like a terrier.-- Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake
"One moment, please. Whom did you wish to see?"
Degarmo spun on his heel and looked at me wonderingly. "Did he say 'whom'?"
"Yeah, but don't hit him," I said. "There is such a word."
Degarmo licked his lips. "I knew there was," he said. "I often wondered where they kept it."
Если непонятно, почему это смешно, см. старую запись на ту же тему с другим примером и объяснением.
Роман, кстати, опубликован в 45-м году, т.е. whom в разговорной речи воспринималось как маньеризм уже тогда.
