The trouble with Harvey

I have a friend who has been in politics since the eighties, and he tells the story of one of his bosses, early in his career, who refused to hear anything for the first time. Of course, there were times that something would be news to him — some piece of political gossip, some nugget of insider info — but he didn’t want anyone ever to think he was a step behind anything, so whenever he heard something that was in fact news to him, instead of saying the normal thing, like, Oh, wow, that’s wild, he’d nod, with a mildly interested expression on his face, and say, "Oh, is that out?"