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I'd assume they mean the academic formalised competitive kind of debates, not debates in general. I wasn't really aware of then until I went to university.
by aninhumer 9y ago
I'd assume they mean the academic formalised competitive kind of debates, not debates in general.
I wasn't really aware of then until I went to university.
- viraptor 9y agoSame. It seems to be a US thing. Coming from eastern Europe, I saw the school debate idea a few years ago in some movie and learned it's a serious sport thing only a month ago or so. (Where I also learned the competition level is pretty twisted / often relying on min/maxing rules) It's definitely not a common concept. I've heard of chess boxing before this.
- fastball 9y agoI replied to "I didn't know debates were a thing", not "I didn't realize universities had debate teams and that it was a competitive activity". All I was looking for was a clarification from the person who made the very general statement. All I got was a lot of people putting words in someone else's mouth.
- scbrg 9y agoWell, to be fair, to "be a thing" is not equivalent to "exist". In this context, I guess that "be a thing" means, "be something people do in their spare time, even when not strictly required to because its forced upon them in their role as politician/whatever."