# What's up with GD threads entitled "Resolved: ..."? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-gd-threads-entitled-resolved/473926 "2008-11-21T23:13:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-gd-threads-entitled-resolved/473926/1 "2008-11-21T23:13:32Z")
Threads that start “Resolved:”, followed by a point of view on some matter, and an invitation to discuss it. To illustrate with a made-up example: “Resolved: The Beatles are overrated”. Woah, I know some people think that, but isn’t it at least open to debate? I thought “resolved” meant “decided” or determined", not “offered up for discussion”. Prefixing one’s opinion with “resolved:” sounds rather arrogant. Is this some meaning of “resolved” that has passed me by? ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-gd-threads-entitled-resolved/473926/2 "2008-11-21T23:27:31Z")
Because people see the word “Debates” in the forum name, and that’s how the topics for traditional, formal debates are generally stated. I have no idea why they’re like that, and always thought it seemed as if the topic was foreclosing the debate. Wikipedia has an [article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resolution_(policy_debate)), but it’s not terribly helpful about the etymology. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-gd-threads-entitled-resolved/473926/3 "2008-11-21T23:34:43Z")
When I was in the high school debate club, that was the style for all the debates. The proposition for debate began “Resolved: whatever whatever,” and you took the affirmative or negative side. It’s just a formal way of stating what the point up for debate is. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-gd-threads-entitled-resolved/473926/4 "2008-11-21T23:38:42Z")
I know the Oxford Union debates are in this format. (The most famous was the 1933 resolution “Resolved:That this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country”) ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-gd-threads-entitled-resolved/473926/5 "2008-11-21T23:40:14Z")
OK, so it’s a US debating society thing. It makes little sense to me - if the matter were resolved, there would be no need to debate it. It’s like saying “Settled: 2 + 2 = 5”. [edit, re later post] I thought Oxford Union debates took the more reasonable position “This house believes that…”? ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-gd-threads-entitled-resolved/473926/6 "2008-11-22T05:16:52Z")
“Proposed: that Mary Ann is hotter than Ginger.” ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-gd-threads-entitled-resolved/473926/7 "2008-11-22T13:59:50Z")
I always thought that the OP was being an asshole, and saying that he was right and everyone else wrong. Ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-gd-threads-entitled-resolved/473926/8 "2008-11-22T16:05:04Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > I always thought that the OP was being an asshole, and saying that he was right and everyone else wrong. > > Ignorance fought. Well, that could still be true. Just because someone uses that form, it doesn’t automatically follow that the know the origin and meaning.