+1

Total Eclipse of the Moon, originally uploaded by SisterSafetyPin.

I was just reading a story where a tried and true sickly sweet argument was occurring.

"I love you."
"I love you, more"
"I love you most"
I love you, times infinity.

And then finally....

"I love you, times infinity +1!"

And the argument is won. But I just had to laugh. Because what is it about the +1 that is such a game changer? What's more it's an accepted game changer among children. One does not simply say, "Well I love you, infinity +2!" It's just not done. For some reason, as a collective we have decided that the already infinite number can have a single +1, anything more then that is just being ridiculous.

But when you think about it, the +1 is already ridiculous. How can you add 1 to a limitless number? If we're going to deal in the impossible why is it not ok to simply continue the argument all the way up to infinity times infinity?

Maybe because even as children we understand the mess we'd be getting ourselves into. Much like, "The Song That Doesn't End..." Once you start there's an innate knowledge that it would be quite difficult to stop.

So we stop at +1. And feel smug about tricking our partner into saying, "... times infinity."