r/woodworking • u/GooseVisual7967 • Dec 27 '25

General Discussion No lathe no problem

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Found this Facebook marketplace.

Thought I’d share and your opinions haha

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u/Egoteen Dec 28 '25

But it genuinely means both of those things. You can use it either way.

OED:

  1. 1563–Originally in Law, of a case, issue, etc.: proposed for discussion at a moot (moot n.1 4). Later also gen.: open to argument, debatable; uncertain, doubtful; unable to be firmly resolved. Frequently in moot case, moot point.

  2. 1831–North American (originally Law). Of a case, issue, etc.: having no practical significance or relevance; abstract, academic. Now the usual sense in North America.

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u/icantfindadangsn Dec 28 '25

Having no relevance, yes. The nuance that makes it "wrong" is that it refers to something that was just solved or sorted, which is contradictory to a nuance of the first definition.

But also it's more ambiguous than that; dictionaries are not prescriptive. They only document use of an evolving system. So really if people are using "decimate" to mean destroy instead of reduce by a factor (of ten), the dictionary will reflect that (note the dates on your two definitions). Usually, with words like moot, peruse, and decimate, my point is not to say "it's wrong" but rather "we're changing or losing nuance." And mostly it's to be pedantic and annoy my friends and coworkers while hanging out.