[blml] "Demonstrably" - practical meaning?

[gesta at tiscali.co.uk]

Grattan Endicott<gesta at tiscali.co.uk
[following address discontinued:
grandeval at vejez.fsnet.co.uk]
*************************
"He shot an arrow in the air
Towards the highway in Adare;
Apparently it struck a nerve
And caused that ten-ton truck to 
                                     swerve. "
"*************************
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alain Gottcheiner" <agot at ulb.ac.be>
To: "Bridge Laws Mailing List" <blml at amsterdamned.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 9:32 AM
Subject: Re: [blml] "Demonstrably" - practical meaning?
>>  
> (Harald)
>> Huh? I'd neither expect a notorious overbidder to tank before doing
>> what he normally does, nor a notorious underbidder to tank before
>> doing what he normally does.....
>>
>> I don't think you can reason like that.
>>   
> (AG)
> 
> And here I am again, insisting that, if two trained 
> Directors and clever 
> guys don't agree, even knowing about the player's tendencies, what his 
> hesitation could suggest, then neither could his partner know, which 
> means no UI.
> Whatever the exact sense of "demonstrably", surely you can't demonstrate 
> two opposite things from the same starting point.
> 
+=+ Oh dear! Tilting at windmills again, my dear Don. 
        If the finding is that, of the class (whatever this is), 
40% of players would think A, 40% B, and 20% C, 
any one of A, B, or C "could demonstrably have been 
suggested" (sic). 
        Somewhere below 20% - probably a long way  
below  - the Director/TAC will judge an insufficiency 
of suggestibility and will determine that 'at this level it 
is not demonstrable that it could be suggested'. 
     We must keep in mind that a Director's judgement 
is not addressed to whether the action was suggested 
but to the question whether it could have been, and to 
the subsidiary question as to whether he believes the 
power to suggest adequate for him to believe it 
demonstrable.
                         ~ G ~   +=+