The Opposite of

Posted by Henry on April 25, 2003

In Reply to: The Opposite of posted by Anders on April 24, 2003

: : What would you say is the opposite of "the benefit of the doubt"? "The detriment of the doubt"?

: : Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

: These are my suggestions:
: 'Jumping to conclusions'
: 'Trust is good, control is better'
: 'Being suspicious, over-critical, mistrustful, etc.'

: 'The detriment of the doubt', I must say, I have never heard. It has 2 hits on Google, though, cf. below. It seems to me to be a jocular expression. Unless you intend to make people smile, I don't think you should use it. It's too ironic, the irony being the fact that, to make any sense of it, one must hark back to the original expression ('the benefit of the doubt'). Thus, the opposite meaning is much too much present in the expression, which, therefore, may be said to lack autonomy, i.e. real meaning of its own.

: Anders

'Smoking gun' is the popular phrase in current usage; He was caught with a smoking gun in his hand, or not, as the case may be.

• The Opposite of benefit of the doubt Lewis 04/25/03