{"id":2415,"date":"2017-04-12T09:22:54","date_gmt":"2017-04-12T15:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=2415"},"modified":"2020-11-25T11:20:21","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T17:20:21","slug":"whether-to-give-a-hoot-about-moot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/definitions\/whether-to-give-a-hoot-about-moot\/","title":{"rendered":"Whether to Give a Hoot About Moot<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Those who follow the evolution of English understand that some words with a once-fixed identity can get pulled into the pool of common use and begin to lose their form.<\/p>\n

Some words become a new creation. Others obtain a duality that makes them hard to discern. One such word is moot.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dating back to the 1500s, English law students used it within legal exercises to describe something that was arguable and open to debate or discussion. A moot point was one lacking certainty and needing greater evidence for substantiation.<\/p>\n

During the 1800s, however, some English speakers began imbuing the word with the sense of being hypothetical or having questionable relevance. Within legal circles, moot<\/em> could then also be used to express a point of little relevance or practical value.<\/p>\n

In spite of this encroachment, the original meaning would stand firm for many years before being confronted more vigorously with the prospect of change.<\/p>\n

In 1934, Webster\u2019s New International Dictionary<\/em> defined the adjective form of moot<\/em> as \u201cSubjected or subject to argument or discussion; disputed; as, a moot<\/em> case or question.\u201d It also included a verb form meaning \u201cTo argue for and against; to discuss; to propose, or bring up, for discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The greater, more determined challenge would infiltrate only a few decades later. In 1966, The Random House Dictionary of the English Language<\/em> defined the adjective moot<\/em> as \u201c1. subject to argument or discussion; debatable; doubtful: a moot point.<\/em> 2. of little or no practical value or meaning; purely academic. 3. not actual; theoretical or hypothetical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moot\u2019<\/em>s 1966 verb form in the dictionary meant \u201c4. to present or introduce (any point, subject, project, etc.) for discussion. 5. to reduce or remove the practical significance of; make purely theoretical or academic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vernacular broom was starting to sweep aside centuries of established, hard-working usage. Camps consequently divided into adherents to the original meaning and separatists intent on giving the word a different life in a new age.<\/p>\n

The camps would remain well opposed for several more decades with the separatists gaining a gradual edge along the way. In a 1988 American Heritage Dictionary<\/em> survey, 59 percent of the dictionary\u2019s Usage Panel accepted the adjective moot<\/em> as meaning superfluous or academic.<\/p>\n

In 2008, the challenging force finally took over. Eighty-three percent of the Usage Panel accepted the adjective\u2019s modified meaning (the verb form is now defunct except in rare instances in the U.K.). Now, nearly a decade later, the approving percentage could well be even higher.<\/p>\n

So the question remains: Who still gives a hoot about moot<\/em>? We\u2019re sometimes sorry to see once sturdy definitions fade. We also recognize that times and people change, as do their words.<\/p>\n

The problem now is that we have embraced both definitions of moot<\/em> depending on their context. This sounds like confusion-and-questions-in-waiting to us.<\/p>\n

The purists in us would have upheld the original definition. The realists in us acknowledge that the lots of mixed usage have already been cast on a grand scale.<\/p>\n

And so we arrive at our verdict: Rather than muddle meanings with moots<\/em>, you might consider a different word to express your thought, whether it be arguable<\/em> or irrelevant.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those who follow the evolution of English understand that some words with a once-fixed identity can get pulled into the pool of common use and begin to lose their form. Some words become a new creation. Others obtain a duality that makes them hard to discern. One such word is moot. Dating back to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,10,23,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adjectives-adverbs","category-definitions","category-verbs","category-vocabulary"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}