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Comment by jpancake | Hacker News Reader

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jpancake·

I'm sure I'll be modded into oblivion for this, but, oh well.

I'm really curious, and not trying to be snarky: how old are you?

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> how old are you?

Regardless of your stated intent, you should be aware that your query comes across as a subtle form of ad-hominum. Let's discuss "all that is fit to print" and not my white chest hair ..

Ad hominem.

It's not an ad hominem if your age has a relationship to your argument. It may or may not, we don't know because your interlocutor hasn't followed up.

It would still be ad hominem ("against the person"), just not a fallacious argument.

I feel like we have different definitions.

I was under the impression that ad hominem is about dragging irrelevant personal qualities into the debate.

For example: the topic is water quality. Joe Bloggs is troubled by the effects of pollutants in tap water.

Not an ad-hom: "He owns a company which manufactures tap water filters".

Ad-hom: "He's an atheist".

> how old are you? The great thing about this rhetorical device is that it is both a fallacious and non-fallacious ad hominem. Asking the persons age is a legitimate question given the question of how important NYT is to public life. It's also a legitimate dig. "Ah. I see what you've done here."

The meaning of ad-hominem is easy enough to lookup. Both your examples are ad-hom, one is less relevant than the other. In neither case are you addressing his argument rather attacking the speaker's motives or character. "How old are you?" is both snarky and ad-hom, moreover the questioner knew he was being snarky.

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