Clothesline

The internet slang term “clothesline” refers to a situation where someone gets immediately shut down or proven wrong in a conversation or argument.

Examples:

– Person A: “I heard that the new movie is terrible, no one should waste their time watching it.”
– Person B: “Actually, it received positive reviews and has been a huge box office success, so many people enjoy it. Looks like you just got clotheslined on that one!”

– Person A: “I’m absolutely certain that aliens exist and have visited Earth!”
– Person B: “Well, there’s no scientific evidence to support that claim, so you just got clotheslined with your wild theory!”

Example 1 shows how person B instantly disproved person A’s statement about the movie by providing factual information, resulting in person A being metaphorically “clotheslined” in the conversation.
In example 2, person B dismisses person A’s unsupported claim about aliens by stating the lack of scientific evidence, effectively shutting them down.