Pair programming is literally working with someone on a programming problem.

yeah i think that's a fair question. i think while the extreme programming community may define it as a practice with a particular set of guidelines, ultimately it's about working effectively with another programmer.

sometimes that means bucking the rules of whatever the methodology prescribes and doing what works for your team.

for example: xp people tend to suggest frequent pair rotations in order to spread knowledge (faster?). I know half my team, though advocates of pair programming, would be pretty unhappy with that given the costs of context switching.

maybe some people will point at that and say we're not really pair programming /shrug