Pooh-pooh
Fallacy in informal logic
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To pooh-pooh an argument is to dismiss it as being unworthy of serious consideration. It is an informal fallacy.[1]
Scholars generally characterize the fallacy as a rhetorical device in which the speaker ridicules an argument without responding to the substance of the argument.[2]
Some authors have also described the fallacy as the act of "ridicul[ing]" an argument as though it were "a myth",[3] and some characterize it as the act of dismissing an argument "with insults without responding to its substance in any way".[2] Other authors describe the fallacy as the act of dismissing an argument "with the wave of a hand".[4] Some sources also suggest the fallacy is an expression that involves "sneer[ing]",[4] "ridicule",[1] or "malicious comments about the proponent of the argument".[2] Some authors also suggest the term originated as a "representation of the act of spitting in sign of contemptuous rejection".[5]
See also
