plumage paradox
n.— «My original instinct to buy the best is what I call the plumage paradox. A peacock’s dilemma is that having a large, beautiful tail attracts females, but it also attracts predators. The message the tail sends to the female is that the peacock is genetically superior: in spite of the dangers of exposing himself, he has managed to outfox the foxes.» —“Financial Darwinism: The Plumage Paradox” Forbes Dec. 11, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fanciful first sentences that are similarly...
Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you’re understood and being insulted. “High-involvement” speakers interrupt or talk along with someone else to signal their enthusiasm...