[mulmen]

> How is that different than “anything”?

Because the possible values are known.

> What greater insight or context do we have if it’s a small-int null?

The insight is that null is not a value. It’s not a smallint or a boolean or a date. It’s the absence of a possible value. The only way to see a null as tri-state is to conflate it with a nullable boolean. This is an incorrect mental model which leads to confusion.