Now, I can see how this could exist. All you have to do is add the word "the", as in,
"Just in the case". The 'just', here, means 'only', leading to: "only in the case".
I can easily see how someone could confuse the two, as people have confused things like "I could care less"- only this one changes the meaning, rather than the words.
However, I agree that usually the phrase means what it has always meant.
He does say:
as used by those trained in the formal sciences and philosophy
So he is naming a specific group. It could be less widespread than he imagines because, being not in the country, he only has a very limited selection of evidence to pull from. If all the evidence suggests that "just in case" has acquired a "the" then he might come to
The comment about the end about
I do not normally have much regard for the old saying about the British and the Americans being two nations divided by a common language; but it really does come to mind here.
Is supposed to be the punchline- such that it is. I think it's supposed to be a bit funny. However, being North Americans, it's not that funny because we know how small the group using 'just in case' is, and so it makes no sense.
Also, there's always been a joke in the UK about how Americans "can't speak English", so it's probably playing on that "oh, those silly Americans" joke, which is similar to the "oh, those silly British" joke which Americans have.
I already posted
this once today, on Sakeriver, but I feel it's appropriate again.
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