The cookie stand IS part of the food court

I would like to define the cookie stand as being the one upstairs in The Mall. I would further like to define the food court as a common area within a mall or other building where people sit down to eat their food. I will concede that in The Mall the food court is located downstairs.

I will proceed to argue this debate wolvie-bazerk style. When the debate is over I expect the son of Jor-El to kneel before Zod and remember parents, teach your children to fear and respect that escalator.

The cookie stand couldn't be part of the food court if it is upstairs and the food court is downstairs. A food court is a designated square of eateries. Eateries that operate outside of that square have to be considered an autonomous unit. Otherwise the entire mall would have to be considered a food court. It would be like saying "Fairway Chevrolet is on Sahara and the Valley Auto Mall is on Warm Springs but Fairway Chevrolet is a dealership and a dealership is part of the Auto Mall." That would be ridiculous because, like a food court, an Auto Mall is a designated square of dealerships.

The principle feature of the food court is the actual court. The court is the area with tables and chairs where people come to sit to consume their food. Since one could easily take food from the cookie stand and eat it downstairs at the food court, the cookie stand (and all eateries inside the mall) must be considered part of the food court.

It is the relative proximity of the cookie stand to the food court that makes it a part of the food court. For instance an eatery at another mall (such as the Menlo Park mall) would not be considered part of the food court of Our Mall. But since all the eateries are under one roof and since it is easily possible to take cookies from the cookie stand and eat them in the food court, the cookie stand must be considered part of the food court.

My opponent proves me right in round 2 when he says "The principle feature of the food court is the actual court. The court is the area with tables and chairs where people come to sit to consume their food." He goes on to say "Since one could easily take food from the cookie stand and eat it downstairs at the food court, the cookie stand (and all eateries inside the mall) must be considered part of the food court." This statement doesn't make sense because you wouldn't have to take your order anywhere if the cookie stand was part of the food court because you would already be in the food court.

My point is that the eateries have nothing to do with the food court. It doesn't matter where the eateries are in the mall, as long as they can be taken to the food court to be eaten. When someone says hey let's eat in the food court, they are not talking about a specific eatery, they are talking about the physical tables and chairs. If that is the food court (the actual tables and chairs) then any eatery would be a part of it, because anyone could get food from that eatery and eat it in the food court.

Eateries have everything to do with the food court. It does matter where the eateries are because a food court is a designated square of eateries with tables and chairs in the middle of it to eat the food on. The fact that someone could go upstairs, purchase a cookie from the cookie stand, and then take it downstairs so that they can eat it in the food court does not change the fact that the cookie stand does not operate inside of the food court. If someone asked me to meet them in the food court (which is downstairs), it wouldn't make any sense for me to wait for them at the cookie stand which is an autonomous unit that operates upstairs.