I can’t begin to count the number of times that I’ve seen it (and, sadly, participated sometimes — I like to believe I’m wiser now)….
Posit the question: Do two people who don’t know what they are talking
about know more or less than one person who doesn’t know what he’s
talking about?
One person will only go so far out on a limb in his construction of
deeply hypothetical structures, and will often end with a shrug or a
raising of hands to indicate the dismissability of his particular take
on a subject. With two people, the intricacies, the gives and takes,
the wherefores and why-nots, can become a veritable pas-de-deux of breathtaking speculation, interwoven in such a way that apologies or gestures of doubt are rendered unnecessary.
