You're right, of course, except that the entire design of `this` in Javascript is carefully tuned to make #2 easier and more frequent than #1. And we all gleef

You're right, of course, except that the entire design of `this` in Javascript is carefully tuned to make #2 easier and more frequent than #1. And we all gleefully exploit it when writing `[].slice.call(arguments)`. I think it's an open question whether it was actually a horrifyingly bad design decision, or if it's rather that we're all too dumb to get it.