I come across the word “moot” all the time but I’m not sure what it means since it could mean any number of things . I’d appreciate some feedback on the numbered examples to help me identify what “moot” means in each of them.
moot1 [moot] Show IPA
adjective
1.
open to discussion or debate; debatable; doubtful: a moot point.
2.
of little or no practical value or meaning; purely academic.
3.
Chiefly Law. not actual; theoretical; hypothetical.
verb (used with object)
4.
to present or introduce (any point, subject, project, etc.) fordiscussion.
5.
to reduce or remove the practical significance of; make purelytheoretical or academic.
6.
Archaic. to argue (a case), especially in a mock court.
Depending on how you look at it, U.S. banks could lose as much as $1 trillion if the current money troubles in Europe were to lead to a full blown financial crisis. Or they could close to nothing. It depends on who you believe. Understanding why there is a difference of opinion is at the heart of knowing whether U.S. banks are really in trouble.
For right now, the point may be moot. (purely academic?)
2.His request became moot …(?)
3.How do you use the word “mooted”?
Getting a point across correctly is moot (doubtful) if your audience is asleep.
“In a regressive response more sutiable for reality television than a
white-shoe corporation in the 21st century, plaintiff was advised that
these other comparator females may wear what they like, as their
general unattractiveness rendered moot (doubtful) their sartorial choices, unlike
plaintiff, whose shapeliness could not be heightened by beautifully
tailored clothing.”
In common usage, it really only means one of two things:
A question or point which can never be more than theoretical - of little or no practical application, i.e:
“Do you think Triceratops meat would be a better choice than the meat of a carnosaur?”
until we invent Time Safaris, the question is moot.
A theoretical suggestion or idea (which may or may not later become a practical reality):
“John mooted that Time Safaris, although fun, would fuck up the timelines”
For 1 and 4, the idea was that if the topic was important to you, you’d just tell them the problem and your answer , so if you just drop it over to committee, then its unimportant… or in fact you want the idea to remain on paper… just talk…
By sending it to a democratic process of talk and talk…
But anyway its mooted when its sent down from the executive to the committee… its being assigned a lesser value, as if it was just of interest for the committee only, and not important to the organisation or its stake holders in general.
I would say that #6 is wrong in saying that meaning is archaic - arguing cases in a mock court is part of many law programs. It’s a specialised meaning, but not archaic.
That also helps answer question 3 on the OP. bunch of law students go into a bar and order some pitchers of beer: “Whoo-hoo! We mooted today! One more requirement achieved!”
I’m not sure what the usage is for example 3, but in all of the others, it’s definition in the sense of 2 or 5 of the senses listed in the OP - IOW, irrelevant, pointless, academic, etc.
Discussing whether Batman or Superman is the better superhero for example can be regarded as moot in a certain sense since it’s unlikely that you’d ever be able to establish suitable criteria for coming to a definite resolution of the issue.
That might be stretching the usage a bit but I think it’s still within bounds.
I’m afraid I disagree, based on my own experience in law school. “Mooting” as a verb can include the activity of arguing in a moot court, rather than referring to a specific case. “We’re mooting tomorrow” was a common way to describe the activity of doing a moot court, without referring to the topic.
I’m happy to bow to your superior knowledge. I was only attempting to expand on the dictionary definition provided – law school jargon’s a little outwith my bailiwick.
I would say there’s a couple of definitions missing from the list. “Moot” can be a noun, as in, “the first year moot,” referring to the course requirement of arguing a moot. There are also competitive moots: the Jessup Moot in International Law is one of the best-known ones, with students competing from around the world. “Moot” in that usage is a noun.
The other definition missing, from the adjective list, is also derived from the activity of mooting. The students who compete in a moot competition are on the moot team.
IMHO, there is another similar point affecting modern usage. I hear it used by people who (correctly) want to move a discussion past a certain point. In correct usage, this point would be unknown or unkowable or debatable. Sometimes it seems to me that people incorrectly use it to mean that the issue is decided. The usage is similar in that it’s basically saying “we’re not going to talk about that anymore”. Unfortuanately, I can’t think a specific example at the moment.
Is the “decided” meaning actually incorrect then? As in “The jury was considering the death penalty for the convicted murderer, but when he succumbed to a heart attack in the courtroom, the point became moot.”
This is using “moot” to mean “irrelevant” or “purely academic”. I think this is the more common usage now, though “debatable” is closer to the original meaning.
I believe that this is one of those words which means something different in U.S. and British usage. In the U.S. moot (adj) typically means a point that has been decided and so it is pointless or academic to discuss. In British English moot (adj) means a point that is open to discussion – almost exactly the opposite.