Debate+Jargon


 * Speech and Debate Jargon **

**Break Rounds -** At large tournaments it is necessary to have break rounds to determine the places of each contestant. This comes after the preliminary rounds and after each round half the contestants are eliminated. For example, for the individual events at a large tournament, like nationals, an event would break to “Octo Finals” meaning there would be 8 rooms of that one event. After Octo’s there would be Quarter Finals, following Semi-Finals and at the end of the day there will be Finals where the last 6 contestant compete for the top 6 in the event.

**Cutting** – IEs - Students cut pieces in order to fit the time limit. Some performers cut characters out of the piece or limit their lines. Debate - Selecting the portion of a piece of evidence to focus on/read

It is important to know that cutting the piece should not change the intention of the author.

**Double Entry-** Double Entry allows a competitor to compete in two events at one tournament. On the posting it is usually demonstrated by an asterisk and the competitor is to follow the order in which they are supposed to speak. The tabulation staff tries to order the competitor first in one event and last in another in order to have enough time in between performances.

**Flowing** – In debate, both the competitors and judges write all the critical material necessary to both participate and judge the debate. “Flowing” is helpful to follow and keep up with the debate. Shows the relationship between arguments throughout the debate.


 * P.O. – ** Presiding Officer, the student voted by the group that runs the session of Congress.

**Popping** – The movement used by interpreters to switch to a different character.

**Postings-** Signs put up prior to the round starting are postings, they tell the performer what room they are in and sometimes, depending on the league, what order you will compete in. For break rounds, postings are a way of finding out if you did make it to the next level. **Preliminary Rounds** or **Prelim’s –** The first round at a tournament that everyone participates in, usually at CFL tournaments there are 4 preliminary rounds.

**Rankings-** Each judge ranks the contestants in the room; for debate the judge will decide which team/contestant won and for individual events the judge ranks the contestants from one as the highest and 5 as the lowest. **Tabulation Room** or **Tab-** This is the glue to all tournaments, a group of coaches is in charge of assigning all ballots to judges and assign all competitors to rooms. They “tabulate” the points to see the rankings for awards. **Teaser –** A teaser is placed before the introduction and the piece in order to grasp the audience’s attention as well as set the mood for the piece.

**“Tech”-** “Tech” is a big part of the interpretation events. “Popping” and the gestures that go into the piece are “tech”. This should make the piece seem believable and real. **Transitions**- This is helpful in speech events, especially in Extemporaneous Speaking and Original Oratory to flow from one topic or “contention” to another. Without proper transitions, it is easy for the judge to

** Commonly used Abbreviations **

**NFL –** National Forensic League **I.E. –** Individual Events **H.I. -** Humorous Interpretation **D.I.** - Dramatic Interpretation **DUO –** Duo Interpretation **Extemp –** Extemporaneous Speaking ** NX ** - National or Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking **IX or FX -** Foreign or International Extemporaneous Speaking

**L.D. –** Lincoln Douglas Debate **P.F. –** Public Forum Debate
 * O.O. - ** Original Oratory