Trivial objections (also referred to as hair-splitting, nothing but objections, barrage of objections and banal objections) is an informal

logical fallacy In philosophy, a formal fallacy, deductive fallacy, logical fallacy or non sequitur (; Latin for " tdoes not follow") is a pattern of reasoning rendered invalid by a flaw in its logical structure that can neatly be expressed in a standard logic sy ...

where irrelevant and sometimes frivolous objections are made to divert the attention away from the topic that is being discussed. This type of argument is called a "quibble" or "quillet". Trivial objections are a special case of

red herring A red herring is a figurative expression referring to a logical fallacy in which a clue or piece of information is or is intended to be misleading, or distracting from the actual question. Red herring may also refer to: Animals * Red herring (fi ...

. The fallacy often appears when an argument is difficult to oppose. The person making a trivial objection may appear ready to accept the argument in question, but at the same time they will oppose it in many different ways. These objections can appear in the form of lists, hypotheticals, and even accusations. Such objections themselves may be valid, but they fail to confront the main argument under consideration. Instead, the objection opposes a small, irrelevant part of the main argument. The fallacy is committed because of this diversion; it is fallacious to oppose a point on the basis of minor and incidental aspects, rather than responding to the main claim. These objections are often used to not address the merit of an argument but rather to oppose them from a technicality. Example: :''Tom'' is using a barrage of objections: :''Amy'': Tomatoes are fruit, not vegetable. :''Tom'': Tomatoes can't be fruit. They don't grow on trees. :''Amy'': But pineapples also don't grow on trees and are fruit. :''Tom'': Tomatoes still can't be fruit. They are used in salads. :''Amy'': Apples are also used in salads and are fruit. :''Tom'': Tomatoes still can't be fruit. They are of botanical order

Solanales The Solanales are an order of flowering plants, included in the asterid group of dicotyledons. Some older sources used the name Polemoniales for this order. Taxonomy Under the older Cronquist system, the latter three families were placed elsew ...

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