Dear Readers:
After Dr. Ink recently exposed the common misuse of the phrase “beg the question,” his able editor, Julie Moos, alerted him to a similar problem, a semantic shift in the meaning of the word “moot,” as in the common expression, “That’s a moot point.”
Dictionaries offer two seemingly contradictory definitions:
1. “Open to question; subject to discussion.”
2. “Deprived of practical significance.”
In other words: worth debating; not worth debating.
As we shall see, this is not the only English word that seems to act as its own antonym.
The word “moot” originally meant a meeting place, especially the place where issues or cases could be debated. Hence, a “moot court” served as the place where law students could practice their arguments.
In the sense that those arguments were “academic” rather than “practical,” the second meaning above seemed to kick in. Doc’s practice is to avoid the word, unless the context explains the meaning.
Which gets Doc to other words that contain two contradictory meanings. Here’s a quick list:
- Sanction: If the new headmistress of Hogwarts sanctioned student meetings, did she permit them or outlaw them?
- Sand: If you sand wood, you make it smoother. If you sand the ice, you make it grittier.
- Overlook and Oversight: Both can refer to acts of looking closely or failing to notice.
- Cleave: This word means to separate (hence, a meat cleaver) or to adhere.
Which leads Doc to this inevitable question: If we were to admire a classic photograph of, say, Sophia Loren, and noticed her cleavage, would we be talking about the line where the breasts divide or where they adhere? If readers have nothing better to do, they can help Dr. Ink solve this puzzle, which is, in both senses of the term, moot.
