On Tuesday, June 30, 1992 at 1:12:39 AM UTC-4, ske...@skatter.usask.ca wrote:   
   > In "The Perfect Mate," Alexander said "the higher, the fewer" at least twice.   
   > What the heck did that mean?  Our station routinely chops two minutes    
   > from every episode, so we might have missed something.  Please email.   
   >    
   >    
   > skeeter@skatter.usask.ca					no nifty .sig   
      
   As another poster said, Alexander was simply repeating another character's   
   line, which Mrs. Troi pronounced "a conversation stopper", in order to   
   actually stop a conversation. As far as the phrase itself, I just came across   
   it not once but twice in    
   unrelated places (which then referred me to this thread).    
   First, it is the title of a 1911 film about a poor prizefighter who thinks   
   he's unworthy of the rich girl he loves and after he receives a substantial   
   inheritance, takes pains to hide his past. Second, Stephen King used it in   
   chapter 39 of The Shining.    
   The voices in little Danny's head pose Lewis Carroll's Hatter's famous riddle   
   from Alice in Wonderland, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" and then   
   immediately answer it with, "The higher, the fewer, of course! Have another   
   cup of tea!" My guess is    
   that this is where the script writer found it.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)