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Not to say that I always get it right. I don't. I get it wrong lots, but I want to talk a little bit about a grammatical error -- usually spoken, not written -- that is like fingernails across a chalk board to me.
I know you are really, really smart. You may even have majored in English, but let me give you a little lesson in legal idioms:
Think cows and kittens. It sounds like moo with a t on the end of it, not mew with a t on the end of it. Go for the cow, even though kittens are far cuter.
A moot point may sound reasonable, but it no longer matters. In fact, it might never have mattered. It might be intellectually titillating to continue the debate, but the argument is settled or the situation is beyond redemption. For instance, you want to go to Paris, France, but your spouse wants to go to Venice, Italy. Neither of you have a job and you live in a trailer in the back of the house your mother owns because you can't pay rent. You aren't going anywhere, so the debate about whether to go to Paris or Venice is moot.
A mute point? Well, I don't know exactly what that does. Maybe it's just a look, because it cannot be verbalized, being mute and all. Perhaps it has something to do with television remote controls and the mute button. Maybe you're on a conference call and you've hit your mute button on your phone so the other conference attendees can't hear your dogs barking wildly in the background. Something comes up that you decide to comment on. You make your statement, but you've forgotten to release the mute button. The situation gets resolved without your input, thereby making your point both moot and mute.
I'm not just writing this to vent. I'm writing this so you will know and quit saying mute point when you mean moot point, because when you use the phrase incorrectly you sound a bit like an ignoramus rather than the intelligent, articulate person that I have come to know and love.
Feel free to call me on any of my shit. Fair is fair.
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