Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes the better choice among two alternatives is neither, nor.

We have two alternatives—this, that. The most well known choice is

either this or that

One of them must be better than the other. Let’s decide which is better and go with it. Aha, but we grow smarter with the years and someone says, let’s take the best of both or let’s take both and make them better, so the choice is

both this and that

I agree that sometimes both-and is better than either-or.

Allow me to add one more legitimate choice:

neither this nor that

Gosh, we hate this one. The result of all our work is this-that. Surely there is merit in this-that. Do you want to discard this-that and continue the search? When will we decide?

Sorry. Sometimes this-that are both bad ideas.