Debatadictionary
Debatadictionary or an A-Z of Debate Colloquialisms
Adjourn
The debaters adjourn outside the room whilst the judges are deliberating.
The debaters leave the room at the end of the debate to let the judges decide upon the team rankings and speaker points… An opportunity for the chatty debaters to socialize whilst the nervous ones chew their nails until the results are announced!
Assertion
His speech was full of assertions.
This means the speaker was making claims and arguments without explaining what underpinned them.
Bin
I think I’ve been binned.
You may hear debaters say this when they have been put in a room with other mediocre teams.
BPS
The LSE Debate Society follows the BPS.
“British Parliamentary Style” is a particular type of debate structure. See our page that explains this thoroughly.
Break
LSE Team A broke!
To break is to qualify for the final rounds of the competition/tournament.
Burden
My burden as opening opposition is to show…
The burden of a speech is what it has to prove to win the debate.
CA Chief Adjudicator
The CA of the LSE Open is usually announced in December.
The Chief Adjudicator is one of the administrative “heads” of a tournament. It is his job, amongst others, to choose the motions.
Call
I disagreed with the call completely!
The call is a synonym for the team rankings announced by the judges
Chair
I have the same chair as I did last round.
The chair is the senior judge in the room, who leads the judges' discussion and has the final say.
Clash (points or lines)
There are two main points of clash in this debate.
A point of clash is a point that is fundamental to the debate and is still disputed by both sides
CO or Closing Opposition
Closing Opposition ranked 3rd.
Closing opposition is the fourth team to get involved. It’s role is to successfully rebuttal what has been brought up the government
Composite Team
A guy from LSE and a girl from Bristol have formed a composite team.
A team is composite if it is formed by two debaters from different institutions.
CG or Closing Government
CG failed to offer any new material
CG is the third team. Put simply, their role is to rebut the opposition and offer new material to the Government case that hasn’t already been said by OG.
CP or Closing Proposition
See CG
Crash
Who needs a hotel when you have crash?
Crash is the debating term for free accommodation: spending a night sleeping on the floor of a random student’s bedroom!
DCA or Deputy Chief Adjudicator
The DCA made half of the motions
The DCA helps the Chief Adjudicator.
Deliberation
Our judges’ deliberation lasted 30 minutes
Deliberation is the period of time during which the panel of judges decide upon the team rankings and speaker points.
Diagonal (short and long)
The long diagonal won this debate.
The long diagonal connects: OG & CO
The short diagonal connects: OO & CG
DPM
The Deputy Prime Minister got the highest speaker points in the round.
The Deputy Prime Minister is the second speaker of Opening Government.
ESL or English as a Second Language
The ESL winners of EUDC 2012 were from Leiden
ESL speakers compete with the English debaters during the preliminary rounds of competitions, and then go on to final rounds specific to their category (this is not always the case however)
EUDC or European Universities’ Debating Championship
EUDC 2012 was held in Belgrade, Serbia.
The EUDCs are held once a year in Europe, often in exotic, far away places like Serbia and Galway.
Extension
Their extensions weren’t substantial enough to give them 1st place.
An extension is extra material brought to the debate by Closing Government and Closing Opposition.
Feedback
The judge offered us really constructive feedback.
Feedback is constructive advice offered by the judges to the teams once they have announced the rankings at the end of the round.
Hammer
It came down like a hammer.
A fantastic POI.
Harm
The burden of Opening Opposition is to show why the Government’s proposal is harmful.
The Harm is the negative effects that the motion would bring about for individuals, society, or a general goal, if it were to be implemented.
Iron man
He had to iron-man that round.
An iron-man is a one person team. The debater therefore makes two speeches. He cannot break.
IV or Inter-Varsity
I can’t wait to be in Paris for the IV and the Wine!
An IV is a debating competition bringing together various universities.
Knife
He knifed his team mate.
A debater knifes his team mate when he contradicts him during his speech (ie: internal contradiction)
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition was the fittest debater I have ever seen.
The Leader of the Opposition is the first speaker of the Opening Opposition Team.
Material
CG didn’t have much new material to add.
Material is arguments, examples, debating substance basically.
Model
OG had a good model.
The model is the framework OG provide in their first speech. A clear model is essential because it provides structure and delimitations to the debate. It defines who are the actors concerned, time & space constraints, etc…
Motion
What a boring motion
The motion is the topic of the debate.
OO or Opening Opposition
It was a clear win for Opening Opposition
OO are the second team. Their role is to offer substantial rebuttal to OG’s claims as well as find the harms of the proposal.
OG or Opening Government
Opening Government is a difficult role to fulfil.
Opening Government is the team that opens the debate. The first speaker is referred to as the Prime minister.
OP or Opening Proposition
See OG.
POI or Point of Information
Opening Opposition didn’t take any POIs.
A point of information is a question a debater can ask to a speaker of the opposite side during the debate. However, POIs cannot be offered in the first or last minute of a speech.
Preliminary Rounds
There will be nine preliminary rounds before the Break.
Preliminary rounds are ones that each team will have the opportunity to debate in.
PM or Prime Minister
The PM did a good job at defining the motion.
The PM is the first speaker of Opening Government.
Prep
It is 15:05, you now have 15 minutes of prep.
=preparation, ie: the time you are given to prepare your speech between the release of the motion and the beginning of the debate.
Pro Am
I hope I don’t pro-am with Azeem.
Pro-ambing is when an experienced debater teams up with a novice.
Protected Time
She tried to offer a POI but it was too late: the speech had already entered protected time.
Protected time is the first and last minute of speech when no POIs can be made.
Rebuttal
His rebuttal was concise and to the point.
Your rebuttal is the counterarguments you offer against your opponents speech.
Room
I can’t find my room!
The room is the area/hall/library/ classroom where the debate takes place.
Round
The motion for round 1 will be announced shortly.
A round of debate starts with the release of the motion, and ends when the judges announce the team rankings.
Sign posting
His signposting was very clear.
A debater signposts when he clearly enumerates his different arguments at the beginning of his speech. This often allows the judges to follow his train of thought more easily.
Squirrel
The judges didn’t appreciate how Opening Government squirelled the motion.
When a team (most often Opening Government) defines the motion in a way that was clearly not intended by the definition.
Strawman
We felt you strawmanned the opposition’s case in your rebuttal.
To strawman is to purposely make the case of the other side sound more simplistic than it actually is.
Summary Speech
His summary speech completely missed the point.
The summary speeches are made by speakers 7 and 8. They are meant to sum up the debate, clarify the points of clash, and try to convince the judges why Closing Government or Closing Opposition win the debate.
Sweep
That round was an obvious opposition sweep
In this case it means that the opposition teams were clearly superior. You can also hear of a “government sweep”, a “top half sweep” and a “bottom half sweep”.
Swing
I am swinging this round.
When there are an uneven number of teams at a competition, two debaters from the host university will often pair up and participate to even out the numbers. Swing teams cannot qualify for the break.
Tab
How well did you do in the team tab and the speaker tab?
The team tab is the accumulation of each team’s score from every round that leads to a Team Ranking.
The speaker tab is the accumulation of all of a speaker’s speaker points from every round. This leads to a Speaker Ranking.
Tabmaster
The Tabmaster gets angry when the judges can’t add up their speaker points properly.
The Tabmaster is God, is always right, and must never, in any case, be upset or annoyed. The Tabmaster is often a crazy debating fiend as well. So beware.
Team Cap
The team cap for the LSE Open is 100.
A team cap is the maximum amount of teams that can participate in the competition. Can vary from 30 to more than 100.
Top Half
That was a top half debate.
A top half debate is one where the substantial core of the debate happened between OG and OO.
(bottom half is the same, except between CG and CO)
THB
THB that Danny Keeley will be the next top of the charts rapper and that is pseudonym will be “Ultra Boy”
=This House Believes.
THW
THW ban zoos.
=This House Would
Ultra Round
I’m not sure how the ultra round went for me!
The ultra round is the final preliminary round with closed adjudication (ie: the judges do not announce the rankings to the teams)
Wing
I am a wing.
A wing is a co-chair that sits on the chair panel and participates in the deliberation after a round of debate. In case of disagreement, it is the main chair that has the final say.
Worlds or WUDC
I was selected to represent my university at WUDC!
An Introduction to Parliamentary Debate
