Just Speech and Debate Things:
5 Unique Things Speech and Debaters Do
As I prepare to judge at yet another tournament, I reminisce about the decade I have spent in the speech and debate community. Looking back on the countless tournaments, leaving behind my win-loss ratio, and feeling prideful over the many successes I achieved, I felt compelled to share some of the oddities and wonders in the speech and debate community. Disclosure: These are trends that are known in the speech and debate community as a general label. Many schools and teams do not utilize some of these trends and that’s okay! Your experience may differ.
1. Talking to walls
For many Speech competitors, practicing in front of their peers is common and incredibly helpful for improvement as they are able to receive feedback on their performance or speech. However, when there is nobody available to aid you — as every student should be practicing or preparing for their own event(s), especially at the tournament before the round postings have been released, what else is there for a Speech-er to do? Talk to a wall of course! Now, I personally don’t believe the wall is a necessary component for practicing. However, consider the context! Speech and Debate is an extra-curricular activity. The tournaments are usually held at schools (I’m looking at you PKD), so there are many, many empty hallways. Well, until you begin scouting for the most secluded corner of the school, but are inevitably forced to practice out loud next to at least two other people because the competition is tough, this is Districts, and everyone is vying for their chance to go to Nationals! You try going outside, but oh wait, there are competitors there too. Back to the wall, you go.
2. Thirty-seconds left!
Now this may be a West coast trend, but I have seen it done at both the high school and collegiate level. Make the letter C with your hand (or a backward C with your right hand). Now raise your hand, keeping the C shape. This indicates to competitors, “thirty-seconds remaining” as speeches are timed. Admittedly, I do not know why it means what it means, but it does. My guess is that because it is half of a circle, it indicates half a minute left. However, while doing mild research trying to decipher the symbol, I found that some news broadcasters will use a raised fist to indicate thirty-seconds left. Now, I find this interesting as that symbol means, “time’s up!” to competitors. Clearly, this crescent hand sign has a unique meaning and purpose in the speech and debate community itself.
3. Pens.
It is a common fact in the debate community that the best pen to flow (take notes and track arguments) with is the G2: Pilot. If you attempt to contest this fact, you are just incorrect. Sorry, not sorry! Truthfully, this is just another community norm that has been documented and that I have witnessed myself. I am unsure of how it originated, but one theory I have personally developed is based on its inclusion in the 2005 film, Resolved!, which documents a specific event in the debate community, Policy debate (you’ll hear more about Policy later). This minor inclusion may have spurred a movement towards G2 pens. However, it may have also simply been the fact that G2s write really well! The world may never know.
Now that is not the only pen-based trivia in our community. Debaters also have a unique little pen flip that they do as a habit when thinking during preparation periods in the round. Note, it is not advised to do this trick during your opponent’s speech! You ought to be taking notes, flowing, as it were. Here is a video tutorial on the pen flip so that you can do it too!
4. Eye Contact and Touching
This next entry is regarding some curious rules specific to Duo Interpretation. To quickly explain, Duo Interpretation is an acting performance done by two people. The performance cannot exceed ten minutes and may be comedic, dramatic, or both. Duo Interpretation is one of three acting events, the others being Humorous and Dramatic Interpretation. Both are self-explanatory.
For all interpretation events, you are not allowed the use of props. This means if you are on the phone, you have to pretend like you are holding an actual phone instead of making the shaka sign with your thumb and pinky. It also means you have to act out actions such as opening doors, with the squeaky hinges and all. However, what makes Duo Interpretation unique from Dramatic and Humorous Interpretation is the inclusion of these two rules: You may not look your acting partner in the eyes and you may not touch. This leads to very technical blocking (a theater term that applies to HI, DI, and DUO as well). Hover hands are common and near handholds that lead to a spin and dip are impressive.
The following is an amazing final round performance of Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog performed by Billy Chengary and Michelle McCarthy at the 2012 Speech and Debate National Championships. Note how they never touch nor look at each other!
5. Spreading, like butter.
Spreading refers to a tactic used in higher levels and more “progressive” forms of debate. The term is a portmanteau of the words speed and reading. While the act refers to reading arguments from a printed or digital file, it has also made its way into events that disallow typed arguments. The tactic has been heavily criticized by the debate community. While the tactic has been used for decades, the community is still split on whether or not it is a good thing to practice in debates.
Many news outlets, documentaries, and even fictional representations of the debate community include spreading. Netflix boasts two films that include the act: Candy Jar and Speech & Debate. The following is a short video from Wired depicting the act.
The video notes that spreading is used in order to get more arguments out in the limited time allotted. The tactic has also been used to “spread out” opponents, which allows debaters to pick and choose arguments that were under covered simply due to the fact that their opponents were unable to refute all of their points because they were not fast enough. Of course, spreading also requires mastery of breath control, enunciation, and quick thinking. While the opening arguments are pre-written, in the rebuttal stages of the debate, competitors spread in an impromptu manner. The best debaters will not hesitate during this phase, leaving their opponents in the dust.
Regarding breath control, a term used in the community is double-clutching. This refers to the quick, deep inhales done by competitors in order for them to continue spreading. While some are able to breathe in once to regain all of their breath, most breathe in twice, thus, double-clutch. Enunciation is also an incredibly important part of spreading and often goes undiscussed by those in opposition to the tactic. Many argue that spreading is unintelligible because it is too fast. However, the best debaters will be clear in their delivery, while also speaking quickly. Debaters will practice their enunciation through a variety of unique drills as well, including but not limited to “vowels in between each word,” “reading your speech backwards,” and the incredibly odd, “pen-in-mouth.” Yes, not only do we spin our pens, we also stick them in our filthy mouths! Don’t EVER ask to borrow a debater’s pen!
Bonus: Tubs on Tubs.
In 2010, the New York Times published an article on this old trend in which (primarily Policy) debaters would bring multiple plastic containers, or “tubs” of accordion folders filled to the brim with printed evidence. It was quite the spectacle as it was, in a way, a flex on other competitors. If you ever saw your opponent with multiple tubs of evidence, you were either in trouble or expecting a good, fast debate. While there are very few copyright free images of this phenomenon, a quick search for “debate tubs” will bring up several examples. Further, the NYT article shows the ridiculousness of this trend as well.
Truth be told, I never actually witnessed this trend first-hand, thus why I left it as a bonus. Why, you may ask? Well, simply put, it is antiquated. With the advancement of laptops, the need and expectation for printed evidence has virtually disappeared. While some schools still adhere to a strict, printed evidence only paradigm, most opt for the more modern, file-sharing version.
