In general, I give a lot of credence to their actual citations, because of text-internal evidence indicating how at least some Amoraim like Rabbi Zeira and Rav Yosef, were extremely careful about precision there. Here in particular, I think the weird citation formulation gives greater wiggle room. Sort of like "amar lecha" means "he would say to you".
In general, I give a lot of credence to their actual citations, because of text-internal evidence indicating how at least some Amoraim like Rabbi Zeira and Rav Yosef, were extremely careful about precision there. Here in particular, I think the weird citation formulation gives greater wiggle room. Sort of like "amar lecha" means "he would say to you".