clunky.py

class MyThing(object):

  def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
      # If only I could `my_kwarg = kwargs.delete('my_kwarg')
      my_kwarg = kwargs.pop('my_kwarg', False)
      print "did some things"
      # result = super(SpecialThing, self).save(*args, **kwargs)
      if my_kwarg:
          print "did other things, because of the kwarg"
        # self.do_more_stuff()
      return

foo = MyThing()
foo.save()
foo.save(my_kwarg='bar')

Chiggity Czech: https://gist.github.com/1392496