"extremely moot"

[Wilson Gray]

On Apr 21, 2005, at 9:20 AM, James Smith wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James Smith <jsmithjamessmith at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "extremely moot"
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> "Moot" means arguable, open to debate, extremely moot
> - extremely arguable; that the Essenes lived at Qumran
> is not accepted as fact by the writer.  A law school
> Moot Court is a place for debate, not a place for
> stating foredrawn conclusions,

"_foredrawn_ conclusion"

Only 228 hits on Google. So far, "foregone conclusion" appears to be
holding its own.

-Wilson Gray

>  but because they
> usually debate cases that have been decided, the
> outcomes of the arguments have no weight, therefore
> the secondary - somewhat contradictory -  meaning of
> "moot" as not significant.
>
>
> --- Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU> wrote:
>> I read a claim that whether Essenes lived at Qumran
>> was "extremely moot." That
>> collocation struck me as odd, not only because
>> Essenes lived at Qumran, but
>> because it seemed to urge irrelevance, to mix
>> indifference and warning. Google
>> tells me the collocation isn't new. Any thoughts?
>>
>> Stephen Goranson
>>
>
> James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
> South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
> jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
>                                |or slowly and cautiously.
>
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