The Optimal Retort

In a satirical fable of mine (Vuong, 2024), Kingfisher's committee builds a prize around three criteria chosen because he excels at them, announced on a banner as "Strength-Beauty-Fraternity." Hawk wins by reading the same hyphens as minus signs: Honor = Strength − Beauty − Fraternity. This note shows that reversal is not merely clever but mathematically optimal: flipping a criterion's sign changes a candidate's margin by exactly twice the rival's lead on it (Proposition 1), so the reading that damages a favorite most is unique, flip every criterion he leads on and nothing else (Proposition 2), and this is exactly Hawk's reading.