tu quoque

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 24, 2010 is: tu quoque • \TOO-KWOH-kwee\  • noun : a retort charging an adversary with being or doing what he or she criticizes in others Examples: A good debater recognizes that resorting to a tu quoque only weakens one's position in the argument. "Thomas describes Williams's defense tactic as 'tu quoque' (you're another), basically the aggressive defense for which Williams was known, accusing the accusers." -- From Kim Eisler's 2010 book Masters of the Game: Inside the World's Most Powerful Law Firm Did you know? A typical tu quoque involves charging your accuser with whatever it is you've just been accused of rather than refuting the truth of the accusation -- an evasive strategy that may or may not meet with success. The term has been active in the English language for about 400 years and has been put to use by a number of English writers, including C.S. Lewis, who penned, "your condemnation of my taste is insolent; only manners deter me from a tu quoque." The term is Latin in origin and translates as "you too," although the translation "you're another" is sometimes used as well (as in our second example sentence). "Tu quoque" functions in English as a noun, but it's often used attributively to modify other nouns, as in "a tu quoque argument." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.