Argumentum Ad Numerum

Latin for "appeal to the people"
(If many believe so, it is so)

Argumentum Ad Numerum: the idea where something is true, because great numbers believe it. As in eat shit, twenty trillion flies cant be wrong! - Bill Maher

by sliickrick August 1, 2011

argument

Where 2 or more people verbally fight over something. Chances of situation ending up in divorce, manslaughter and murder are high.

a) -"I've had enough of you!"
"Oh yea?"
"Yea! I want a divorce!"

b) -"I hate the way you keep on screwing my sister! Especially since we just got married last night!"
"You're pissing me off bitch! *punches, kicks, stabs*
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry Mindy!"

c) "Oh yea? You think our son should grow up being a Catholic? We'll see!"
*plots devious plan before stabbing husband to death the next day*

by The Cheese December 18, 2003

Cargument

The act of having an argument in an automobile.

"I was late getting here because I was having a cargument".

by Lorne Weiss July 20, 2008

Conservation Of Argumental Volume

The person who speaks least in an argument, wins.

Johannes spoke four words. Jenny spoke twenty. By Conservation Of Argumental Volume, Johannes won.

by Wuadada November 28, 2009

A Thymer Argument

When Ones points in a argument are opinion based, have nothing to do with the topic, or is a hollow argument.
typically used when one is clearly wrong in an argument and in the moral wrong so one proceeds to spout bullshit as a self defense mechanism

Person 1: Well i may have joked About Your suicide attempt but you dated a girl me and this other guy think is Weird!
Person 2: dude that's such A Thymer Argument

by retardmoments69 October 22, 2020

motte-and-bailey argument

Also called the motte-and-bailey fallacy. A sort of rhetorical bait-and-switch where one puts forward a controversial point, then claims that they're actually arguing something far less controversial if challenged. This is often done by giving something an agreeable name (e.g., claiming that people who oppose Black Lives Matter the group oppose black lives mattering as a basic concept).

First coined by the philosopher Nicholas Shackel in 2005 and popularized by Star Slate Codex in 2014. Named after a style of medieval castle, where the hillfort (motte) is surrounded by a walled village (bailey). If the bailey was overrun, defenders could fall back to the motte and better weather the attack.

"You don't like MAGA flags, huh? What's wrong with wanting America to be great?"
"Stop it, that's a motte-and-bailey argument and you know it."

by admiralakbar1 April 22, 2022

Do you want to win the argument, or make a difference

So much of our current social and political discourse is based on proving the other wrong i.e. winning the argument. We don't demonstrate enough empathy to understand where the "other" is coming from and the merits of their point. A black and white world is a construct of our own imagination and our desire to imprint our views on to others. It ignores the beauty that the synthesis or fusion of diverse ideas enables.

John had made a life out of proving people wrong. He took pride in being able to argue against any position and win. He was a talk show host. One night when he was grilling a guest who was making a point around having improved gun controls in place. John, barely let she finish her sentences, was adversarial and was not listening. At the end of the segment the guest said; "John, do you want to win the argument, or make a difference".

by Yusuf Wazirzada May 7, 2019