the first statement would imply intention, a FALSE according to the rules set by the story and the nose would indeed grow. Since the expression should be evaluated ONCE and only ONCE, it does not matter that the end result is a TRUE. Reducting it at an extreme level, it would be the same thing as a !(FALSE) returning a TRUE.
He states that his nose would grow on command, which he cannot do since the nose growth mechanism is involuntary - that provides a boolean FALSE
Assuming the nose growth subrotine as
eval(mouth.out) {
if TRUE {
return;}
elseif FALSE {
nose.lenght+=1;}
}
the first statement would imply intention, a FALSE according to the rules set by the story and the nose would indeed grow. Since the expression should be evaluated ONCE and only ONCE, it does not matter that the end result is a TRUE. Reducting it at an extreme level, it would be the same thing as a !(FALSE) returning a TRUE.
...and I'm spent.