---
title: Courtier's Reply
tags:
  - type/encyclopedia-entry
---
# Courtier's Reply

A [courtier's reply](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtier%27s_reply)
is a dismissal of an argument
on the grounds that the arguer lacks the authority
(knowledge, credentials, training, etc.)
to offer any criticism at all.

The term was coined by Paul Zachary Myers as user pharyngula
in reference to _The Emperor's New Clothes_
in the eponymous article ["The Courtier's Reply"](https://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/12/24/the-courtiers-reply)

***

If, observing a bridge actively collapsing under the cars above it,
you suggest that some error may have been made
by the structural engineers responsible for designing or maintaining it,
and your peer replies,
"Keep your speculation to yourself,
you don't know the first thing about their discipline,"
and in that they are correct,
they have given a courtier's reply.
