Talk:Table (parliamentary procedure)

Is the title of this article not misleading? It applies to US parliamentary procedure - but it points out that, in other parliaments in the English speaking world, it has a quite different meaning. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.163.138.12 (talk) 02:47, 17 June 2008 (UTC)


 * My thought exactly. In Britain and similar countries, "tabling a motion" would involve proposing it for debate --Rumping (talk) 17:47, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm not opposed to consideration of a page move here, but it needs to be discussed first. "Motion to table" is not a good choice; this terminology is discouraged by RONR and some other authorities, such as TSC. Jonathunder (talk) 21:50, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

"Both the American and the British dialects have the sense of "to table" as to lay [the topic] on the table or to cause [the topic] to lie on the table. The difference is in the intent of how long the topic is to stay on the table. The British meaning has the sense of anticipation that the topic will foreseeably be called off the table for discussion and vote; the American sense is to dispose the topic by sending it to the table and leaving it there, presumably forever." This is still making a false presumption of the non-US usage. The topic is not "called off the table for discussion and voting", it is where active discussions go, ie, I have a map, I put it on the table so we can all discuss it and point at it. More modern equivalencies might be whatever is up on the whiteboard, or computer screen. The metaphorical table containss whatever is being actively considered. To pull in yet another furniture reference, the American usage equates a table with a shelf - ie, the discussion has been shelved, put aside, into long term storage, and not visibly or actively considered. I personally think that entire paragraph should be pulled, or a better attempt made to discuss the conceptual differences between these metaphorical tables. :P (Where's a metaphorical carpenter when you need one?) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.46.177.2 (talk) 01:22, 20 April 2012 (UTC)