Something must have gotten lost along the way, because the fact that $self->SUPER::can("bar") is (usually) the same as $self->can("bar") is exactly what I was saying in the very first post… :-) (It can only be different if there is a can in one of the superclasses though, regardless of whether there is one in the current class.)

Basically, I pointed out one of my two mistakes, then explained why it was a mistake, and came up with a broken solution because I missed something I thought I hadn't (that you can ask UNIVERSALL::can about 'SUPER::method'). Then you came along and pointed out my other mistake as well, but said that it somehow invalidated my correct explanation for the mistake I had already spotted.

Makeshifts last the longest.