Segal’s Law

Supposedly coined in a San Diego newspaper in 1930 (and then misattributed to a radio station owner named Lee Segall), what became known as Segal’s Law says, “A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two is never sure.”

This adage seemingly began its life as a proverb about business, saying that a jeweler will tell their customers that they need two watches before adding that someone with two watches will actually be less informed than someone who owns just one.

There’s a double implication in that original bit of wisdom that’s left out of the more focused, derivative proverb, then: some folks, perhaps especially for business purposes, will try to get us to do things that are beneficial for them, even if they’re detrimental to us.