DEBATE GLOSSARY

Ad hominem fallacy: attack a person rather than the argument. E.g. “Don’t listen to them, they’re fat/stupid/young.”

Ad populum fallacy: claiming that something is true because of popular belief

Analysis: the logical reasoning behind an argument.

Ballot: the sheet of paper or online location where judges write the results of an individual round of competition, which they submit to the Tab Room or online tabulation system.

Barrack: To offer points of information too quickly in succession and be disruptive.

Believes motion: a motion beginning “This house believes...'' generally means more emphasis on proving a statement to be true and less on mechanistic issues about the implementation of the motion in the real world. E.g. “This house believes that all countries ought to be democratic.”

Break: also called elimination or out rounds are levels of competition where students get eliminated at the end of each heat. The last break round of a tournament is the final round, where two opposing teams get face to face and the winner of the match is the winner of the whole tournament.

Constructive: the first speech given by each team in a round, used to build a case

Cost Benefit Analysis: one of the most common ways to decide a debate round, this philosophy requires a judge to analyze the benefits of a policy versus the cost. In other words, does the proposal do more harm or good?

Definition: the interpretation of the words in the motion, delivered by the first speaker of the proposition. It should aim to resolve any ambiguities in the wording of motion and clarify for all teams exactly what the mechanism refers to.

Finals: an elimination round involving the top two teams/debaters in debate

Forensics: competitive speech, debate

Judge (Wing): a person who evaluates a round of competition.

Motion: the topic under dispute in a debate. It is normally given as a statement

that the teams must propose or oppose, e.g ‘This house would abolish the monarchy’

Opposition: the side that argues against the motion

Point of Information: A short, quick question or statement made during a speech by a speaker on the opposing side. Also known as a PoI.

Prelims: the preliminary rounds where no team gets eliminated until the break rounds

Proposition (Government or Affirmative): the side that argues in favor of the motion.

Protected Time: the first and last minute of a speech during which points of informations cannot be offered

Quarter Finals: elimination rounds comprised of the top 8 teams

Questioning: period where the members of the assembly ask individual questions of the speaker (sometimes called cross examination). Multiple-part (or two-part) questions are not allowed (unless the rules are suspended for that instance), because they take time from other members who may wish to question the speaker. Recency: recognizing speakers based on who has spoken least recently (or earlier).

Record: in debate, the win-loss ratio, or in speech, the total ranks; a general standing of success

Refutation: directly attacking the opposing teams’ arguments.

Round: an individual heat of competition where two opposing teams compete in a particular room in front of particular judges for each round.

Schematics: the matrix that assigns students to compete in particular rooms with particular judges in each round. In debate, these are often called “pairings”. They can be physically hung at tournaments or released online.

Semi-Finals: elimination round consisting of the top 4 debate teams

Squirrel: defining a motion in a strange, unexpected or narrow way, such that it could not have been reasonably expected by the other teams and damages the debate.It is generally frowned upon rather severely as it is unfair to other teams in the debate who have been preparing for a different debate. The etymology comes from squirrels hiding their nuts.

Speaking Order: the order contestants are listed on the schematic for each round is the order in which those students should present. Conventional wisdom about speaking order is that primacy (first impression) and recency (the last word) are the choicest positions, so tournaments tend to mix the order in which students present, to allow each contestant an equal opportunity to present close to first and last.

Tab Room (or Tab): short for tabulation, these are basically the tournament headquarters where the results are calculated to find out the winner of the round. There are usually protocols about seeking permission to enter the tab room.

Tabroom.com: an online tournament software hosts can use for registration, creating rounds and result calculation.

Timekeeper: The person tasked with keeping track of the length of speeches and banging on the table, clapping or ringing a bell to signal when protected time begins and ends and the end of the speech. Normally one of the judges, in finals can be a dedicated person

Time Signals: hand signals showing how much time a competitor has left to speak in a limited preparation or debate event. Time signals are not given for interpretation or public address events.

See resources:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-EFyjaKiw_WCxCn2KvZuYgcCuatsXsurMmm081kX2qw/edit#gid=0

https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/NSDALearn_SpeechandDebateGlossary.pdf

https://www.oxfordsd.org/Page/5489

https://www.esu.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Debating-Glossary.pdf

https://cus.org/members/debating/debating-terms