Michael Palin:  An argument isn't just contradiction.
John Cleese:    It can be.
Michael Palin:  No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.
John Cleese:   No it isn't.
Michael Palin:  Yes it is! It's not just contradiction.
John Cleese:   Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position.
Michael Palin:  Yes, but that's not just saying 'No it isn't.'
John Cleese:   Yes it is!
Michael Palin:   No it isn't!
John Cleese:   Yes it is!
Michael Palin:  Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes.

(short pause)

John Cleese:  No it isn't...

Selection from Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1972) The Argument Sketch.