[Ads-l] mute point

[Jonathan Lighter]

A "moot court" is hardly a mute court - which doesn't explain why "mute
court" appears in Urban Dictionary.

Or maybe the contributor simply couldn't spell.

Similarly, a "moot point" isn't mute, it's debatable - and often
insignificant.

JL

On Sat, Oct 8, 2016 at 6:49 PM, wh5mith <wh5mith at bellsouth.net> wrote:

> Isn't a "moot point" a "mute point"?
> Bill Smith
>  A brilliant casuist disproved every false generalization. He is justly
> known lately. Moreover, no pompous quibbler really said that useful
> verities were xenophobic yet zealous.
>
>     On Saturday, October 8, 2016 5:36 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky <
> zwicky at STANFORD.EDU> wrote:
>
>
>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:      American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:      "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: mute point
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------
>
> > On Oct 8, 2016, at 2:05 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> wro=
> te:
> >=20
> > A lawyer friend informs me that many younger lawyers in Nashville have
> > taken to saying "a mute point."
> >=20
> > 22,000,000 raw Googlits.
>
> you should know, as a professional lexicographer, that there are sources
> of=
>  information about such things -- in this case, a source (the eggcorn
> datab=
> ase) easily available on the net.
>
> http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/41/mute/
> (from 1/12/05)
>
> arnold=
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
>
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>



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