iocaine logic
Catherine and I were playing a card game of deceptive simplicity and maddening strategic depth. It's one of those things where you say, "Hm. She can win if she does A and I do B; but I'll win if she does C and I do D. But she knows that too, and she can guard against my one-upping her by super-one-upping me; but I know that too, and I can super-duper-one-up her. But she knows that too, and she can lowball, thus letting me win the hand but saving her power for the next hand. But I know that too, and I can lowball too. But if she figures I can lowball, she may one-up me...."
And on and on. This is what sociologist Erving Goffman called an "expression game." I usually call it iocaine logic. You recognize that term from the scene in The Princess Bride where Wallace Shawn shows his strategic power.
This kind of thinking stretches into a whole episode of Friends, in which only Joey knows that Chandler and Monica are secretly dating. Joey becomes the fulcrum of an escalating expression game between the couple and the other friends. Being a comedy, the episode obeys Aristotle's rules of comedy by ending with a (symbolic) marriage: all come clean, and Chandler professes his love to Monica before all witnesses. In spy fiction, which often follows the rules of tragedy, such things are more likely to end in death. In The Princess Bride, which is a farce, Vizzini's game ends in his own death, played farcically for laughs.
Peter Ustinoff put a great expression game (and displayed both the futility of expression games and the folly of military brass who use them instead of real strategy) in his play "Romanoff and Juliet." (It was also a delightful but evaporative movie in 1961, with Ustinoff and Sandra Dee.) The unnamed general of a small country reveals to the US that the Soviets have broken their code.
And on and on. This is what sociologist Erving Goffman called an "expression game." I usually call it iocaine logic. You recognize that term from the scene in The Princess Bride where Wallace Shawn shows his strategic power.
Man in Black: The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right... and who is dead.
Vizzini: But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you: are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemy's? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool. You would have counted on it. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
Man in Black: You've made your decision then?
Vizzini: Not remotely. Because iocaine comes from Australia, as everyone knows, and Australia is entirely peopled with criminals, and criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
Man in Black: Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.
Vizzini: Wait til I get going! Now, where was I?
Man in Black: Australia.
Vizzini: Yes, Australia. And you must have suspected I would have known the powder's origin, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
Man in Black: You're just stalling now.
Vizzini: You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? You've beaten my giant, which means you're exceptionally strong, so you could've put the poison in your own goblet, trusting on your strength to save you, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also bested my Spaniard, which means you must have studied, and in studying you must have learned that man is mortal, so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
Man in Black: You're trying to trick me into giving away something. It won't work.
Vizzini: It has worked! You've given everything away! I know where the poison is!
This kind of thinking stretches into a whole episode of Friends, in which only Joey knows that Chandler and Monica are secretly dating. Joey becomes the fulcrum of an escalating expression game between the couple and the other friends. Being a comedy, the episode obeys Aristotle's rules of comedy by ending with a (symbolic) marriage: all come clean, and Chandler professes his love to Monica before all witnesses. In spy fiction, which often follows the rules of tragedy, such things are more likely to end in death. In The Princess Bride, which is a farce, Vizzini's game ends in his own death, played farcically for laughs.
Peter Ustinoff put a great expression game (and displayed both the futility of expression games and the folly of military brass who use them instead of real strategy) in his play "Romanoff and Juliet." (It was also a delightful but evaporative movie in 1961, with Ustinoff and Sandra Dee.) The unnamed general of a small country reveals to the US that the Soviets have broken their code.
Moulsworth: (beaming) We know they know our code. We only give them things we want them to know.
General: (puzzles over this twisted logic, then crosses the street to the Russian Embassy)
General: (to Soviet Ambassador Romanoff) They know you know their code.
Romanov: We have known for some time that they knew we knew our code. We have acted accordingly — by pretending to be duped.
Romanov: (returning to the US Embassy) They know you know they know you know.
Moulsworth: WHAT! Are you sure?
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