In which Max discovers a tic

At the risk of revealing myself as a Commenter of Very Little Brain, my guess is that "in which" was a conscious choice rather than a tic.

Some years ago I developed a habit of responding to questions such as "will you be at the meeting" with "it is my intention." Unfortunately not everyone appreciates the subjective (accepting of randomness) view, and my attempts to spell out a laundry list of scenarios which would lead to me not appearing did little to comfort my friends. Apparently we humans prefer assurances over truth.

My favorite would be Milne

Ayn Rand? Milton Friedman? Margaret Thatcher? Prince Metternich?

just 'my guess'

Who is "Alexis de Tocqueville?"

Henry Fielding?
(my first thought was "Milne!" :)

Hmm, all the comments seem to have been deleted. Anyway, my guess to your question is "Alexis de Tocqueville."

I had noticed the tick and and ascribed it to your intellectual honesty. It never occured to me that you haven't noticed it yourself.

My guess would be that this is a sign that your using "my guess" is a symptom of something deeper.

Paul, the first commenter, seems to have nailed the author.

Better to make a concrete statement of fact like:

"I did a quick search on Google and Wikipedia for the treatments of kidney cancer, and I could not find bone marrow treatment"

and leave it at that no percentage which is a guess. Signaling the readers that they must verify.

This reminds me of a particular episode of the great Canadian sketch comedy program the Kids in the Hall, 'in which' one dude uses the word 'ascertain' like his mind were stuck on rails.

Link to transcript of 'Ascertain'

Choice of tic also depends on the type of publication. In a high quality academic journal, we are supposed to indicate when the conclusion is based on the data and when it is speculation. But in blog posts, we have more flexibility to leave out the "I guess."

I think "my guess" is a good habit. Ben Franklin seems to have had a similar habit. He thought it important enough that he advocated "the habit of expressing myself in terms of modest diffidence; never using, when I advanced any thing that may possibly be disputed, the words certainly, undoubtedly, or any others that give the air of positiveness to an opinion."

If you don't like saying "my guess so much, Franklin went on to list some alternatives:
"but rather say, I conceive or apprehend a thing to be so and so; it appears to me, or I should think it so or so, for such and such reasons; or I imagine it to be so; or it is so, if I am not mistaken. This habit, I believe, has been of great advantage to me when I have had occasion to inculcate my opinions, and persuade men into measures that I have been from time to time engag'd in promoting; and, as the chief ends of conversation are to inform or to be informed, to please or to persuade, I wish well-meaning, sensible men would not lessen their power of doing good by a positive, assuming manner, that seldom fails to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to defeat every one of those purposes for which speech was given to us, to wit, giving or receiving information or pleasure. For, if you would inform, a positive and dogmatical manner in advancing your sentiments may provoke contradiction and prevent a candid attention."