I often see people using adjectives such as ‘odd’, ‘bizarre’ or ‘strange’ to refer to each other’s arguments, when what they meant to say is they disagree. Or that they “don’t understand” or “don’t follow”. Perhaps this is seen as less offensive, or a circuitous or roundabout way to express disagreement:
Arguments can be fallacious or poorly-worded but what is a strange or bizarre argument? Or an odd argument? Is it when someone is talking about cars and then mid-sentence changes the topic to gardening? That would be odd or bizarre. Or replies with a basketball team when asked his favorite baseball team. That would be strange. Or a misunderstanding.
What you meant to say is you disagree. This is evident by the tone and substance of the post, in which the interlocuter who purports to not understand or does not follow otherwise intimates the person who he is replying to is wrong, typically in a condescending or strongly-worded tone.
If you don’t understand something, how are you simultaneously able to disagree with it? Unless you are arguing against something which you don’t understand, which means your opinion can be disregarded anyway. It’s one thing to say you never seen a specific argument before, but this does not make the argument strange or odd; rather it reflects gaps of your understanding of the subject or opposing view.
It’s not about misunderstandings or weird arguments. Pretending to not understand or using nonspecific language, is a form of begging the question. It’s when a boss, knowing full well his employee pretended to call in sick, leads with , “I don’t understand; you said you were at home on Monday, so why were you…?” The boss already knows the employee lied and is using feigned confusion to encourage the employee to say more and potentially incriminate himself.
There are a few ways to get around this problem. If it’s Twitter, you should just promptly block the user. There are 100s of millions of users, so why waste your time with the one person who is compelled to not get your point. Blocking is not cowardly or ‘evading debate’. The option to block exists for a reason. It’s about making the social media experience more enjoyable.
If this is not an option, such as Reddit, the best option is to disengage. You are under no obligation nor should feel compelled to respond to a question that is asked in poor faith. Answering wrong can mean downvotes and more follow-up questions, as the clarification cannot ever meet the impossibly high burden of proof.
And if you disagree, then just say so. It will make everything easier that way instead of having to decode what a ‘strange’ argument means.