My brother, Michael and my roommate, Brian had an interesting conversation a few weeks ago. My brother was riled up and angry about an incident that happened earlier that day. Apparently, he was in a store and a woman, maybe not so politely, asked my brother, who's very sensitive to not-so-politely, to move aside so she could get past him. My brother recounted every moment of this minor conflict in his usual dramatic, borderline-hyperbolic manner. He described the woman's intentions and then her attitudes and then her planned actions towards him, getting more and more worked up before declaring, "And THEN...she says, move fucker!"

Brian, sensing a plausibility issue within this story, stopped him and asked, "Michael, did the woman really say that?"

Michael went silent, quickly flipping through his mental files of the event.

"No," he said, pausing, then adding quietly, "But she could have."

Brian responded patiently, "But she didn't."

Michael contemplates.

"No," he said. "But she could have."

Brian: "But she didn't."

Michael: "But she could have."