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Sun 10 Apr, 2005 12:43 pm
One of my fav T.V. shows is Law and Order and characters on this show frequently use the expression "second guess" i.e. Jack McCoy might say "I'm not gonna try and second guess what this defendant is thinking"
This may not be the best example, but what exactly does "second guess" mean?
Gee, Don1, I think second guess is an assumption that may or may not be warranted. I'm not sure why a second guess is different from a "first" guess.
That character could as easily say I'm not gonna try and guess what this defendant is thinking.
Piffka wrote:Gee, Don1, I'm not sure why a second guess is different from a "first" guess.
Hi Piffka, this is why it has me baffled, why not just say "I'm not gonna try and guess" it's the word second that has me stumped
My little Oxford Colour Dictionary says it means:
Anticipate by guesswork or criticize by hindsight.
I think we can safely say that the writers on the show may not be quite as adept as we might wish.
Don and Piffka, I think it's rather like second sight, but I'm guessing.
second guess: to guess what people think or what they will do
Example: "Don't try to second guess people. Ask them what you need to know."
From
English Idioms
I've forgotten my grammar lingo, so someone else can probably explain it more technically. But the verb "second-guess" is used immediately before the object.
So it would be "I'm not going to second-guess the jury" instead of "I'm not going to second-guess what the jury is thinking."
mac, I don't think it helps to know the grammar, but for what it's worth, "to second-guess the jury" is an infinitive phrase with "the jury" as the object of the phrase. The entire phrase is the object of the main verb, "going".
Second guessing is like Monday-Morning-Quarterbacking--the person who indulges in second guessing has information not available to the people who made the decision in the first place.
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