영어 Hint of the Day #28: Well, it's "tit for tat." What's that?

"Tit for tat" is a Phrase to Describe a Strategy Used in Many Situations

"Tit for tat" is a strategy used when one person responds to something in the equal and opposite direction.  Perhaps the best way to describe this strategy is by example.

Min Ho:  I think that Min-Ah was wrong, so I decided to tell her mother.
Young-Ah:  Well, Min-Ah won't be happy when she hears that.  I think that she will also tell your father.

In the example above, Min-Ah is going to react to Min-Ho's actions by deploying the same strategy in a proportionate amount.  In other words, Min-Ah will be using the "tit for tat" approach.  If Min-Ah told the entire neighborhood, then she would not be using the "tit for tat" approach.  The key point is that the response (Min-Ah telling Min Ho's father) is the same in severity as the original action (Min Ho telling Young-Ah's mother).

The phrase "tit for tat" is a strategy most famously used when there are going to be a large number of interactions among people, or groups of people.  It is famously referred to in simulations of a game called the Prisoner's Dilemma, a game played to measure people's cooperation with and trust in one another.  "Tit for tat" produced the highest average score in computer simulations of the Prisoner's Dilemma.

The reason that the Prisoner's Dilemma is so well-known is because of its application in any situation where human cooperation and trust are necessary.  Well, that pretty much means it applies in every situation that anyone can imagine.  That "tit for tat" was the strategy that resulted in the highest average score is interesting indeed.

Perhaps this "Hint of the Day" belongs in the "Advanced Hint of the Day" category....