Introduction to Debate Jargon
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Intro
a. Sometimes, the most confusing part of a debate is the jargon.
i. We don’t know exactly what the other person is saying.
ii. This can be especially damaging if you don’t know the jargon your
opponent is using, but your judge does.
b. This lecture is designed to expose you to some of the most widely used terms in
the debate community, and even some that aren’t so widely used.
Why do people use debate jargon?
a. Used to save time.
i. EX: shorter time to say “aff” rather than “affirmative”
ii. In debate every second counts- as debate gets faster more jargon is
invented to replace more wordy phrases.
b. However, can be used to confuse the opponent if the opponent is not familiar to
jargon.
c. Several types of Jargon—jargon that relates to the round, and jargon that relate to
specific types of evidence.
Jargon that relate to the round. Note that these will be very generic and base. There
are lots of more complicated jargon out there, but because we are primarily concerned
a. Spread- when a debater talks so fast that they blend together words and syllables.
i. Spreading is NOT a blanket term to describe someone who just talks fast.
ii. TALKING FAST DOES NOT NECESSARILY COUNT AS
SPREADING
iii. Spreading has a very specific wpm range (aroung 300-400 wpm)
iv. Many people at league tournaments will not know how to spread.
1. You shouldn’t either. (at least on the league circuit)
v. You learn how to spread by reading your case over and over again and
increasing your muscle speed by reading your case with a pen in your
mouth.
1. Also helps with articulation
vi. BE WARNED THAT SPREADING IS FROWNED UPON HEAVILY IN
OUR LEAGUE AND IF YOU DO SPREAD YOU WILL ALMOST
AUTOMATICALLY GET VOTED DOWN. KNOW YOUR JUDGE.
vii. That being said, spreading is very intimidating to novices ;)
b. Burden
i. Basically something your opponent has to prove true or false in order for
them to win the round.
ii. Ex: the burden of the Affirmative is to prove x, if he or she proves x, they
win the round.
iii. Burdens, usually don’t have to go explicitly stated. Aff ALWAYS has a
burden of proof, meaning it is the AFF’s responsibility to prove the neg
wrong. Failing to do that, the Aff loses. When the aff fails to do this, we
call this DEAFULTING to the neg.
1. Think of a default setting on your tv or something. If you don’t
change it, it goes right back to the original setting.
c. Thesis
i. In one sentence, basically summarizes your case.
ii. Think of a five paragraph essay. Your thesis ties everything together.
1. In one statement, the thesis summarizes your argument and what
you are attempting to prove throughout your case.
d. Overview—an argument or set of arguments that do not respond to the opponent’s
specific arguments, but rather make general responses to his/her case and/or
general observations about the debate round. According to a Policy Debate
website, an overview is “[a] summary of the debate (or of an individual position)
presented at the top of the flow. An overview is an attempt to provide a concise
version of the important arguments on an issue, almost like a thesis statement in
an essay.” As the phrase “over” suggests, an “overview” appears at the top of the
flow, i.e., at the beginning of a rebuttal speech or as the first of a series of
responses to an opponent’s case.
e. Claim/Warrant/Impact
i. Claim
1. The “topic sentence of an argument”
2. Whatever you say an argument is going to prove
3. Take in mind debaters are sneaky bustards
a. They may POWER TAG, which means, overstating the
claim of a card
ii. Warrant
1. Warrant is basically the information in the card that states why the
claim is true
2. But what reinforces the warrants? In short, why are the warrants
true?
a. DEEP WARRANTS, are warrants for your warrants.
3. Without a warrant, a card DOES NOT HAVE A CHANCE
4. That is why you always need to be clear of your warrants.
a. And always grill your opponent on their warrants
iii. Impact
1. Impact is why the card matters in the round, where at the end of
the day, the card fits into the judging decision
2. Good debaters do something called IMPACT ANALYSIS where
they place every single impact into a neat little story and lead the
judge down the path
3. Obviously the bigger the impact, the more weight you have in a
round
a. Good debaters will use yet another term called WEIGHING
in their IMPACT ANALYSIS. This is where they basically
assess the impacts of their arguments and their opponents
arguments, and determine which ones are better
i. Components of WEIGHING
1. MAGNITUDE
2. PROBABILITY
3. STRENGTH OF LINK
4. In LD debate, the only impacts that matter are the ones that link to
a standard.
f. Offense
i. The offense is basically every reason you have on the flow that gives the
judge a reason to vote for your side. It must IMPACT back to some
standard to count as offense. If it does not impact to a standard, it not
only does not count as offense, it is seen as a BLIPPY argument, and is
usually justifiably thrown out of the round.
1. Ex: An AFF card would GENERATE OFFENSE, by impacting to
a certain standard and giving a judge a reason to vote AFF
ii. TERMINAL OFFENSE is offense that can outweigh anything
1. Eg: nuclear war, mass genocide.
2. Basically, if your opponent has terminal offense, you lose the
round.
g. Defense
i. refers to argument which has no implication other than mitigating an
argument made by the opposing team.
ii. Remember, if you’re neg. if you have really good defense that
successfully MITIGATES your opponents offense, you win, bro
1. Mitigating is exactly what it sounds like- you make the impact of
the argument less. You don’t take it out completely, you just make
the argument as a whole matter less
iii. TERMINAL DEFENSE is when you completely destroy the argument.
Completely take it out of the round.
1. You want a lot of this
2. Found by attacking warrants.
h. Turn
IV-
i. This is a very specific type of argument that a lot of debaters get wrong
ii. A turn is NOT any argument you make against your opponent’s case
iii. Two types of turns
1. Link turn
a. Break the link (terminal defense) and then you reverse the
link to make it work for your side
i. Ex: Eating cookies makes you fat
1. TURN: Eating cookies makes you skinny
b. Link turns are extremely useful in rounds, and have won
me many rounds.
c. Especially deadly, if your opponent claims a huge impact.
You keep that huge impact, except it works for your side
now, giving you offense.
2. Impact turn
a. Basically keeps the direction of the link, but reverses the
impact, whats bad is good whats good is bad.
b. Eating cookies damages your health which can kill you.
That’s bad. DEATH = BAD.
c. Eating cookies damages your health which kills you,
reducing overpopulation. That’s good. DEATH = GOOD.
3. All types of turns fall into these two brackets. If it doesn’t its not a
turn.
i. Extensions
j. Drop
If time permits
a. Parametricize
b. Non-unique
c. Flex Prep
d. Double Bind
e. Theory Shell
f. Counter Plan
g. Disadvantage
h. Kritik
i. Meta Standard