By Jason Luo
Advantage/Disadvantage - also known as adv. and disads - these are reasons the plan (or resolution) is good or bad, usually called contentions in PF
Apriori (Pronounced Ah-Pre-Or-E) - An argument about the nature of the resolution itself instead of the specifics of the resolution that justifies an automatic affirmative or negative ballot.
Fiat (Pronounced Fi-Aht) - “let it be done” in latin - it basically means that the aff gets to say that the plan passes so that we don’t have to debate issues of implementation (like “will the aff actually pass through congress?” or “will Trump sign off on the plan?”)
Flex Prep - In PF, crossfires are alternating instead of only in one direction. Flex prep is a rule some judges are ok with which involves one team using their own prep time to ask questions to the other team. This is frequently used for clarification and teams will ask the judge if flex prep is ok before asking questions.
LARP - “Live Action Role Playing” - debate about the effects of the resolution from the perspective of the policymakers that we pretend to be. This is the PF we (mostly) know and (mostly) love.
Open Cross - Essentially, in crossfires that are not Grand crossfire, any debater can speak at any time.
Off - short for offensive position - just any argument that garners offense independently of opponent offense (ie. not a turn). For example, Contentions (Advantages/Disadvantages) are offs. Theory shells are offs. Ks are offs. CX/LDers usually start off-time roadmaps with the offs they’ll cover/read. This is why jokes/memes are made about absurdly high offs “27 off”.
Truth Testing - an argument that tells the judge that they ought to vote for whichever debater best proves the resolution as true or false. Truth-testing frameworks are used in tricks debate heavily - make sure to look through the doc carefully and ask cx questions about tricks if you notice a truth testing framework.
Pre-fiat - Impacts to arguments that occur in real life. For example, the educational benefits we gain from debate is a real life impact and thus Pre-fiat.
Post-fiat - Impacts to arguments that occur in the “world” of the resolution being passed. For example, removing sanctions on Venezuela saving the lives of 40,000 people does not occur in real life but instead in the game of roleplaying as policy makers.
Spreading - spreading in PF is usually seen as going anywhere from 225-300 words per minute. As a rule of thumb, the faster a team is going, the more judges will prefer two things:
Apriori (Pronounced Ah-Pre-Or-E) - An argument about the nature of the resolution itself instead of the specifics of the resolution that justifies an automatic affirmative or negative ballot.
Fiat (Pronounced Fi-Aht) - “let it be done” in latin - it basically means that the aff gets to say that the plan passes so that we don’t have to debate issues of implementation (like “will the aff actually pass through congress?” or “will Trump sign off on the plan?”)
Flex Prep - In PF, crossfires are alternating instead of only in one direction. Flex prep is a rule some judges are ok with which involves one team using their own prep time to ask questions to the other team. This is frequently used for clarification and teams will ask the judge if flex prep is ok before asking questions.
LARP - “Live Action Role Playing” - debate about the effects of the resolution from the perspective of the policymakers that we pretend to be. This is the PF we (mostly) know and (mostly) love.
Open Cross - Essentially, in crossfires that are not Grand crossfire, any debater can speak at any time.
Off - short for offensive position - just any argument that garners offense independently of opponent offense (ie. not a turn). For example, Contentions (Advantages/Disadvantages) are offs. Theory shells are offs. Ks are offs. CX/LDers usually start off-time roadmaps with the offs they’ll cover/read. This is why jokes/memes are made about absurdly high offs “27 off”.
Truth Testing - an argument that tells the judge that they ought to vote for whichever debater best proves the resolution as true or false. Truth-testing frameworks are used in tricks debate heavily - make sure to look through the doc carefully and ask cx questions about tricks if you notice a truth testing framework.
Pre-fiat - Impacts to arguments that occur in real life. For example, the educational benefits we gain from debate is a real life impact and thus Pre-fiat.
Post-fiat - Impacts to arguments that occur in the “world” of the resolution being passed. For example, removing sanctions on Venezuela saving the lives of 40,000 people does not occur in real life but instead in the game of roleplaying as policy makers.
Spreading - spreading in PF is usually seen as going anywhere from 225-300 words per minute. As a rule of thumb, the faster a team is going, the more judges will prefer two things:
- First, that the spreading team sends speech documents or transcripts of their speech out to both the judge and opponents to help both parties follow the speech
- Second, that the spreading team reads cut cards in the tag-cite-card format, as that’s much easier to flow at high speeds than paraphrased globs of evidence.
