I read this in the Tribune and thought of arnie:

quote:

Legislators, pass pension reform with the cost shift plus language that would render moot the local distrust of Springfield.

"Render arguable the distrust of Springfield?"

Do you ever see the word moot used as a verb? I've seen it several times recently, generally in the passive; for example: The idea to form a new group was mooted.

I imagine this is an example of the recency illusion, but at least it uses the original meaning of the word!

I have not, arnie. Others?

I've heard "It'a been mooted about that...{a certain action will occur]".

The original meaning of the word was "meeting". As for the verb meaning "To raise or bring forward (a point, question, subject, etc.) for discussion; to propose, to suggest", the OED has

quote:

1685 tr. B. Gracián y Morales Courtiers Oracle 253 Politicians now a-days moot nothing else, but that the greatest Wisedom consists in making it appear.

and much more recently, "To render (a question, matter, etc.) irrelevant or of no practical significance":

quote:

1980 Washington Post 1 Feb. 33/4 As the day wore on the matter seemed likely to be mooted by the cleverness of the crows that wheeled and cawed over the farm.

It just seems odd to me that it can go from "debatable" to having no significance. Apparently it can also mean (chiefly law) "not actual; theoretical."

I'd say it's probably partly a result of people wrongly guessing the meaning from the context. In the legal meaning, it referred to trainee lawyers debating mock cases. Since the cases weren't real, it took on the "theoretical". meaning.

The 1980 Washington Post example is of the verb rather than the noun. That's the first example I've seen of the verb with the the newer "irrelevant" meaning, and it's active rather than passive.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: arnie,