Agree to Disagree

Have you ever argued with someone that you care about?  Even though you don’t agree, you still want to remain friends with the person.  A good phrase to use is agree to disagree.  It means that the only thing you CAN agree on is that you CAN’T agree.  It is a way of ending an argument without hurting anyone’s feelings.  It can also be used when you want to give up on an argument, but you can’t admit that you are wrong.

Example:  You say that red is the best color, but it is just not true.  Let’s agree to disagree. 

John Wesley is often credited as being the first person to use the phrase with its modern meaning in his 1770 memorial service.  However, there are earlier examples.  The memorial service was for George Whitefield who had written the phrase in a letter 20 years prior to Wesley using it at his memorial.  In 1706, William Wycherley used agree to disagree in his poem, An Epithalamium on the Marriage of Two very Ill Natur’d Black, who were to have their Liberty, in consideration of their March.  Ultimately, the first printed version of agree to disagree can be found in the Protestant Apologie for the Roman Church by James Anderton (1557 – 1613).  However, Anderson used the phrase to mean tolerate, which is a little different from the modern meaning.

See Also:  Fair Enough

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Reference:
https://literarydevices.net/agree-to-disagree/
https://wjdw.nl/2019/04/12/was-john-wesley-the-first-to-put-the-phrase-agree-to-disagree-in-print/

 

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