# Resolved: I have no idea what this means **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 4, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467 "2010-07-04T00:17:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467/41 "2010-07-06T02:15:04Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Why on Earth is it something that has to be defended? I dunno… ask the people who are defending it. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467/42 "2010-07-06T02:16:24Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I don’t know that this should matter, but the debates are moderated, and they are shut down when they are deemed to have expired. > > Anyway, maybe you meant to open a Pit thread instead of a thread in this forum. No, I opened exactly the thread I meant to open. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467/43 "2010-07-06T02:17:46Z")
> [@SoulFrost](#): > > I dunno… ask the people who are defending it. You said “you didn’t buy the defenses” of it, as if there might possibly be something wrong with it. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467/44 "2010-07-06T02:22:34Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > You said “you didn’t buy the defenses” of it, as if there might possibly be something wrong with it. Not at all, but if someone said, “Ice cream is good because it’s chock full of concrete,” then–while I have nothing against ice cream–I wouldn’t accept that particular defense as valid. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467/45 "2010-07-06T03:09:35Z")
> [@SoulFrost](#): > > Not at all, but if someone said, “Ice cream is good because it’s chock full of concrete,” then–while I have nothing against ice cream–I wouldn’t accept that particular defense as valid. Sorry, that’s and absurd analogy. No one has claimed that using “Resolved” is good; they have just been offering _explanations_ of that particular usage, which is what you claim to have been looking for. I’m puzzled why you see presenting an explanation for why it is used as a “defense,” which presupposes that there is something wrong with it. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467/46 "2010-07-06T03:14:07Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Sorry, that’s and absurd analogy. People have offered _explanations_ of that particular usage, which is what you claim to have been looking for. I’m puzzled why you see presenting an explanation for why it is used as a “defense.” Shall we go through the dictionaries and list every possible meaning of the term “defense”? In fact, I urge you to do so. Choose whichever meaning makes my statement less offensive to you. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467/47 "2010-07-06T03:46:49Z")
I knew “Resolved” was just debating lingo for introducing a topic for debate… but really, what’s the point? We all know a debate is being introduced just by the fact that it’s posted in “Great Debates”. I would never start a thread with “Resolved”, just because it seems like it’s needlessly creating the possibility of confusion while adding absolutely nothing. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467/48 "2010-07-06T12:57:59Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > I knew “Resolved” was just debating lingo for introducing a topic for debate… but really, what’s the point? We all know a debate is being introduced just by the fact that it’s posted in “Great Debates”. I would never start a thread with “Resolved”, just because it seems like it’s needlessly creating the possibility of confusion while adding absolutely nothing. Would you propose a new rule for **GD** that no thread may bear a title in the format “Resolved: xxxx”? Because what you appear to be doing is just voicing the sort of complaint normally found in **BBQ Pit** mini-rants, that you take umbrage at the idea that a poster, (the overwhelming majority of whom are North American), would happen to employ a phrase that they recall from high school, (and that is quite adequately understood, even if not favored, by the rest of the board), just because it strikes you as odd. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467/49 "2010-07-06T13:07:13Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Is there a “not” missing somewhere here, or is this another “divided by a common language” thing? If the latter, that really is a different usage. So is the “table” thing - I can see that causing confusion!. It is a “divided by a common language” issue. In the States, a [moot point](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-moo1.htm), (that phrase probably accounts for 95% of the occurrences of “moot” in U.S. English, even though it also appears as “mute point” in a horrible number of occasions), is a point that is now irrelevant. Of the remaining 5%, probably 3% are used in its more formal definition–but only among lawyers-in-training and their instructors. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467/50 "2010-07-06T13:07:26Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > I knew “Resolved” was just debating lingo for introducing a topic for debate… but really, what’s the point? We all know a debate is being introduced just by the fact that it’s posted in “Great Debates”. I would never start a thread with “Resolved”, just because it seems like it’s needlessly creating the possibility of confusion while adding absolutely nothing. Sometimes I start threads in GD aiming to get people’s attention on a topic I know to be controversial, and hoping to encourage a debate even though I myself have no strong opinion. In those instances I don’t use _Resolved_, because I am not putting forward an opinion. In other cases I start such threads intending to support a given position by my posts in the thread. Using _Resolved_ is useful then, because it puts me on record as being responsible for supporting that position. If people don’t understand what it means, they can simply look it up or ask. I don’t complain when people use sports allusions, though I never get those without recourse to a reference work. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467/51 "2010-07-06T14:58:32Z")
> [@SoulFrost](#): > > Shall we go through the dictionaries and list every possible meaning of the term “defense”? > > In fact, I urge you to do so. Choose whichever meaning makes my statement less offensive to you. I didn’t say it was offensive, I said it was puzzling. Once again you seem to be putting more of an antagonistic spin on things than was present in the original post(s). And if you choose not to defend your use of “defense,” that’s OK with me.😉 ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467/52 "2010-07-06T16:54:37Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I didn’t say it was offensive, I said it was puzzling. Once again you seem to be putting more of an antagonistic spin on things than was present in the original post(s). > > And if you choose not to defend your use of “defense,” that’s OK with me.😉 And, once again, I see it as you putting a more antagonistic spin on things. If someone wants to prefix their thread with _Resolved:_, fine. No problem. I’m only curious as to why, given our lack of anything else associated with formalized debates, someone would choose to retain that one bit of jargon. “Because I felt like it” is a perfectly acceptable answer, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467/53 "2010-07-06T20:04:46Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > I don’t know specific cites (although I’m sure someone will quickly chime in with some), but that is how formal debates are introduced in real life. > > Resolved: That Canadians are much nicer people than Americans. > > Following that resolution the pro-Canadians and pro-Americans have a debate to see who has the better argument. Essentially, the scenario is that the person speaking is proposing that the house agree to a resolution, in the same way that legislatures can agree to a resolution. It implies that the house will somehow come to a decision (perhaps by vote or other means) and that a statement will be produced to the effect that “This House resolves: …” So the speaker is proposing a resolution, and the debaters will line up “pro” and “anti” with respect to the resolution. ---
**Author:** ![SevenOfTeemingMillions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@SevenOfTeemingMillions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SevenOfTeemingMillions)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467/54 "2010-07-07T07:59:26Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > No. “Moot” has two different and somewhat contradictory definitions. As generally used anymore (at least in the US) it generally means something pointless to discuss. But in its original meaning it was something to be discussed. The earlier definition is what is intended when used in the context of debate. Ah, I see. I thought it was a new/added meaning to “moot” due to a debate procedure/practice that was specific to certain countries. Thank you, **obfusciatrist**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-i-have-no-idea-what-this-means/545467.md?page=2)