Comment by jeffrallen

I often find myself smiling and joking with novices as I meet them coming back from a dead end, "yup, that's exactly the problem I suspected you'd have, now let's see how and why it happens, and how to move forward".

There might be some situations and some people for whom this would be immensely irritating, but for the moment as far as I can tell, it's going ok with my novices. But your essay opened up a reflection in me about how people perceive this and if I need to tone it down. Thanks!