After going on for a while about a topic, my client said, “it doesn’t matter . . . it’s a mute point.” I don’t think he meant that it’s a point that doesn’t make any sound. I’m confident what he meant to say was that the matter wasn’t worth discussing anymore – or a “moot point.”
Merriam-Webster traces moot point to roots in the 19th century as a legal term relating to law school debates that have no impact in the real world. In the 20th century, applications outside the legal sphere began to be seen, with moot point being used to describe issues without practical significance. Word guru Bryan Garner explains, “Sometimes the phrase mute point is used as a not-so-clever pun . . . But in many other instances, no pun is in sight. It’s simply a malapropism that spread in the late 20th century”.
There is some debate about these two phrases. While it seems that everyone agrees that moot point is the proper phrase from a historical perspective, even Merriam-Webster cuts people some slack, saying “. . . however unacceptable “mute point” may be to purists, it really isn’t completely nonsensical. Doesn’t the notion of a noisy debate that has gone figuratively silent, or of an issue that is “silent” in its real-world import, actually seem kind of reasonable?”
If your audience considers too many of your communications either mute points or moot points, you have a problem. Let me know if Nicholas Marketing can help you make sure your communications are heard and have significance.
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