The absence paradox while named a paradox

Paradox

Similar to Circular reasoning, A paradox is a seemingly true statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which seems to defy logic or intuition...

, is more precisely an informal fallacy

Informal fallacy

An informal fallacy is an argument whose stated premises fail to support their proposed conclusion. The deviation in an informal fallacy often stems from a flaw in the path of reasoning that links the premises to the conclusion...

and humorous misuse of language which results in the conclusion that "No one is ever present." The statement of the argument is some formulation of the following:

• No person is ever present because he is either not in Rome or alternatively is not in Beijing.
• Therefore, he must be somewhere else.
• If he is somewhere else he is not here.

The use of this fallacy dates from the 19th century. The fallacy in the argument is that it interprets the relative adverb "else" in an absolute sense.