A closed metal pocket watch rests on folded white linen against dark navy.

Original artwork, not a still

Groucho Marx

Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Two explanations are offered with the same grammatical weight even though one concerns a man’s life and the other a faulty timepiece. That imbalance is what makes the conclusion startling. A serious judgment is left competing with the possibility that the instrument used to make it has failed.

Context reviewed

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