A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure.[1]
The mood of the saying is ironic. While at a surface level it appears to be advocating the simplicity and self-consistency obtained by relying on information from only a single source, the underlying message is to gently question and make fun of such apparent certainty – a man with one watch cannot really be sure he knows the right time, he merely has no way to identify error or uncertainty.
Nevertheless, the saying is also used in its purely surface sense, to caution against the potential pitfalls of having too much potentially conflicting information when making a decision.
Supposedly, the saying was coined by the San Diego Union on September 20, 1930: "Confusion.—Retail jewelers assert that every man should carry two watches. But a man with one watch knows what time it is, and a man with two watches could never be sure." Later this was — mistakenly — attributed to Lee Segall of KIXL, then to be misquoted again by Arthur Bloch as "Segal's Law".[2]
segal, adage, that, states, with, watch, knows, what, time, with, watches, never, sure, mood, saying, ironic, while, surface, level, appears, advocating, simplicity, self, consistency, obtained, relying, information, from, only, single, source, underlying, mes. Segal s law is an adage that states A man with a watch knows what time it is A man with two watches is never sure 1 The mood of the saying is ironic While at a surface level it appears to be advocating the simplicity and self consistency obtained by relying on information from only a single source the underlying message is to gently question and make fun of such apparent certainty a man with one watch cannot really be sure he knows the right time he merely has no way to identify error or uncertainty Nevertheless the saying is also used in its purely surface sense to caution against the potential pitfalls of having too much potentially conflicting information when making a decision Contents 1 History 2 See also 3 References 4 External linksHistory editSupposedly the saying was coined by the San Diego Union on September 20 1930 Confusion Retail jewelers assert that every man should carry two watches But a man with one watch knows what time it is and a man with two watches could never be sure Later this was mistakenly attributed to Lee Segall of KIXL then to be misquoted again by Arthur Bloch as Segal s Law 2 See also editList of chronometers on HMS Beagle The four faced liar Triple modular redundancy in chronometers wikt a stopped clock is right twice a dayReferences edit Bloch Arthur 2003 Murphy s Law New York Perigee p 36 ISBN 978 0 399 52930 6 OCLC 52895461 Barry Popik External links editFarmer Dan Wietse Venema 2006 2 Forensic Discovery Addison Wesley ISBN 978 0 201 63497 6 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Segal 27s law amp oldid 1163393111, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
