The word for today is…

polemic (noun)

1a : an aggressive attack on or refutation of the opinions or principles of another
b : the art or practice of disputation or controversy —usually used in plural but singular or plural in construction
2 : an aggressive controversialist : disputant

Source : Merriam – Webster

Etymology : When polemic was borrowed into English from French polemique in the mid-17th century, it referred (as it still can) to a type of hostile attack on someone’s ideas. The word traces back to Greek polemikos, which means “warlike” or “hostile” and in turn comes from the Greek noun polemos, meaning “war.” Other, considerably less common descendants of polemos in English include polemarch (“a chieftain or military commander in ancient Greece”), polemoscope (a kind of binoculars with an oblique mirror), and polemology (“the study of war”).

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David is a retired surgeon originally from London who came to New Zealand twenty-seven years ago after being delayed in Singapore for thirteen years on leaving the UK. He was coerced into studying Latin...