Granted, I cannot think of any reason why I would ever **want** to override the unary `&` operator, but in <https://stackoverflow.com/a/4542813/368896> the poster states, in regards to some class `X`:

> 
> ...unless X does something really dumb, like overloading the unary &
>  to return this
> 
> 
> 

(NOTE: I assume this comment refers to the fact of the `&` operator returning `this`, not the fact of overriding the `&` operator itself.)

As I thought about that comment, it occurred to me that "returning this" is *exactly* what the `&` operator does - even in cases of multiple inheritance.

Given that one might never *want* to override the unary `&` operator, nonetheless why would it be dumb to have it return `this` (if you did decide to override it)?