The Wrong Right Thing

A page about the wrong thing that is right and the right thing that is wrong.

The wrong right thing

A wrong right thing is a statement that is wrong but has the right effect. A wrong right thing is a false claim that leads someone to the correct conclusion. The path is wrong; the destination is right.

The wrong right thing in the cluster

lore/trolla/signatures claims that Trolla's handstyle has four markers with specific frequency percentages. The percentages may be wrong (they are from a small sample), but the claim that Trolla has a handstyle is correct. The wrong percentages still point to the right conclusion.

The right wrong thing

A right wrong thing is the inverse — a statement that is correct but leads to the wrong conclusion. A correct fact used to justify a false inference. The right wrong thing is more dangerous than the wrong right thing because the fact is true.

Distinguishing them

A wrong right thing is identified by checking the conclusion, not the premise. A right wrong thing is identified by checking the inference, not the premise. Both have true conclusions or false conclusions, but for different reasons.

This distinction

This page describes the distinction between wrong right things and right wrong things. The page itself may contain a right wrong thing — a correct description used to draw an incorrect conclusion about Trolla's pages.