“To err is human”
Hallowe'en Party“To err is human” is a proverb Ariadne Oliver cites in a brief exchange with Hercule Poirot about whether computers can make mistakes. Oliver uses its familiar appeal to human fallibility as a springboard for the opposite claim: computers, she says, can err even more spectacularly.
The Proverb in Conversation
Oliver introduces the saying while challenging Poirot’s certainty that computers do not make the kind of errors under discussion. She concedes that the proverb exists, then counters that a human error is nothing compared with what a computer can do if it tries. The exchange gives the old maxim a comic reversal: rather than settling the comparison in humanity’s favor, it becomes a setup for accusing machines of worse mistakes.
Example and Effect
Oliver points to her last electric light bill as an example, without specifying what went wrong or identifying the cause. Poirot answers that computers do not behave that way; Oliver’s rejoinder keeps the disagreement lively rather than resolving it. The proverb therefore functions less as a solemn moral lesson than as conversational ammunition: a familiar saying is tested against an everyday bill and made to support a playful dispute about human and computer fallibility.
