Appeal to ridicule
From Wikinfo
The logical fallacy of appeal to ridicule presents the opponent's argument in a way that appears ridiculous and mocking it.
Examples:
- If Einstein is right that would mean that when I drive my car it gets shorter and heavier. That's daft!
- You can't have a cat called Fido. Calling a cat Fido would just be silly!
This should be contrasted with reductio ad absurdum which is a valid logical argument form.
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Appeal_to_ridicule" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_ridicule, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
