TERMS
(or maybe just plain jargon)
Organizations
MHSAA – “Mississippi High School Activities Association”
 The governing body for Speech & Debate (and athletic) activities for the state of Mississippi
 Website: www.misshsaa.com
NFL / NSDA – “National Forensic League” / “National Speech & Debate Association”
 A national organization that seeks to promote Speech & Debate activities and competition
 There is a national tournament each June and a national office staffed by around 15 people.
 Executive Director: Scott Wunn
 Website: www.speechanddebate.org
MFL – “Magnolia Forensic League” (formerly: “Mississippi Forensic League”)
 Stands for the Mississippi district of the NSDA
 The Mississippi coaches’ name for the district of the NSDA that comprises the entire state of MS
 Website: magnoliaspeechdebate.weebly.com
CFL / NCFL – “Catholic Forensic League” / “National Catholic Forensic League”
 Began as an organization of parochial schools but now includes any school that wants to join
 Does not have a permanent staff and does not issue anything comparable to NFL points
 Sponsors a national tournament each year
 Website: www.ncfl.org
BCFL – “Biloxi Catholic Forensic League”
 The CFL district that encompasses the Roman Catholic Diocese of Biloxi
 Most schools in south Mississippi are in the BCFL area.
JCFL – “Jackson Catholic Forensic League”
 The CFL district that encompasses all areas of the state of Mississippi that are not in the BCFL
district
 The schools in the southwestern part of the state (Natchez area), in the Jackson area, in the
Mississippi Delta, and in North Mississippi are all in the JCFL area.
NFHS – “National Federation of High Schools”
MTA – “Mississippi Theatre Association”
 The theatre organization for the state
 Each year in December there are regional high school play festivals that advance schools to the
MTA State Theatre Festival held in January.
 The location varies each year.
 Winners of competitions at MTA advance to compete at SETC (the Southeastern Theatre
Conference), which holds an annual convention in early May.
Mock Trial
 Sponsored by the State Bar Association
 Culminates in regional, state, and national competitions in the spring
Competition Terms
NFL Points – points that students get each time they perform in a Speech & Debate event or on another
appropriate occasion.
 Determined by quality of performance as measured by the rank of the student performer in the
panel and by wins and losses in debate
NFL Degrees – marks of certain levels of achievement in Speech & Debate competition.
 The total number of NFL points a student has earned determines his or her NFL degree
Round – each time a student performs in front of a judge
 At invitational tournaments in Mississippi, there are usually four preliminary rounds of debate,
semifinals, and finals.
 There are usually two preliminary rounds of all individual events, semifinals, and finals.
Prelims – the first rounds in a tournament in which all students compete
 Debate: 3-4 (occasionally 5, depending on the schedule)
 Individual Events: 2
Elims / Elim Rounds – the final rounds in a tournament in which the best performers compete
 The rest of the students have been eliminated.
To Break / Breaks – to survive the preliminary rounds and to break out of the total group of students
into the elimination rounds / the list of students who have advanced to elimination rounds
 When a student says, “I broke in HI,” he is saying that he advanced to semifinals or finals in the
individual event of Humorous Interpretation.
 When someone asks, “Have they posted breaks yet?” they are asking whether or not the list of
students advancing to the next round is available for viewing.
Octos – “octofinals”
 In debate: 16 competitors
 In individual events: 48 competitors (usually divided into eight panels of six competitors each)
Quarters – “quarterfinals”
 In debate: 8 competitors
 In individual events: 24 competitors (usually divided into four panels of six competitors each)
Semis – “semifinals”
 In debate: 4 competitors
 In individual events: 12 competitors (usually divided into two panels of six competitors each)
Finals – the winner of this round wins the tournament in that particular event
 In debate: 2 competitors
 In individual events: 6 competitors
Flight – a division of the individual events that allows students to participate in more areas of
competition
 In Mississippi, certain events are offered in Flight A, and other events are offered in Flight B.
 In Mississippi, most tournaments allow students to compete in up to two events per flight for a
total of four individual events. (Students compete: Round 1 Flight A, Round 1B, Round 2A, etc.)
Cross-Entered / (XE) – when a student is entered in more than one event in the same flight
Prep – the time a student has to prepare for specific, limited-preparation individual events
(extemporaneous speaking, primarily)
 The “prep room” is where students go to prep.
 The student will stay in the prep room until she is dismissed by the person handling the draw.
Draw – when the official in charge of prep calls students to receive topics for competition
Parings/Postings – a list that is posted so that each student can see what room he or she performs in
and in what speaker order
 Usually posted in at least two places (student lounge and judge lounge)
Debate Events and Debate-Specific Terms
Policy / Cross-X / CX – a debate by two-person teams that discusses one year-long topic of federal
government policy
LD – “Lincoln-Douglas Debate”
 A one-versus-one debate that discusses a value proposition
PF – “Public Forum Debate”
 A debate in which two teams of two debaters discuss topics – policy, value, or fact – that are
currently front-burner, controversial issues among the general populace
 PF debate is designed to be debated in such a way that an educated adult can follow the
discussion.
Constructive – one of the first speeches in a debate in which competitors build their cases
Rebuttal – the speeches that follow constructive speeches in which the original lines of argument are
discussed
 Typically, new evidence can be introduced but new lines of argument may not
Voter – the issue in a debate that convinces the judge or judges to vote one way (choose one side) or the
other
Congress – “Congressional Debate”
 Students hold a mock congress and debate mock pieces of legislation
Chamber – where the congress is held
P. O. – “presiding officer”
Individual Events (Note: Only the words for which the following abbreviations stand are presented here.
Full explanations of the events can be found in the MHSAA handbook.)
IE – Individual Event: speech contests that are neither debates nor Congress competition
Piece – a selection for competition
DI – Dramatic Interpretation (of Literature)
HI – Humorous Interpretation (of Literature)
DUO – Duo Interpretation (of Literature): the performance of a piece of literature by two competitors
Dec (pronounced like “deck”) – Declamation
OO – Original Oratory
Extemp – Extemporaneous Speaking
Expos – Expository Speaking
Prose – Prose Interpretation: the reading of prose using a notebook
Poetry – Poetry Interpretation: the reading of poetry using a notebook
Storytelling – Presenting a story to a judge
 Each tournament that has Storytelling competition has a theme for the event
 Competitors learn their stories by heart, develop their performance, and present their pieces
extemporaneously
Decency Clause – MHSAA requires that all students who perform an interpretation selection have a
complete decency clause for the selection available at each tournament