Hypothetical

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Plausible deniability.

A lawyer’s “scare quotes” that say, “we didn’t have this conversation, and if you claim that we did, I will deny all knowledge. But as we both know, we did. But, as far as the boss is concerned, I we didn’t.”

“Didn’t what?”

A tap on the nose, a knowing look and a wise expression which says, “precisely, my dear fellow. Precisely” .

Hypotheticals hail from the same bank of the River Pedantry as “equivalence” — or should we say, they hail from a bank equal to the same bank as equivalence (it seems only fair) — and often are promptly followed by a vigorous bout of deeming.

See also

• The hypothetical broker-dealer
• Deem
• The reasonable man (or, for that matter, woman)
• Sexy language. Sorry, I mean sexist language.