Posted on 09/07/2010 3:22:06 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
To "refudiate" or not to "refudiate." Merriam-Webster has declared Sarah Palin's made-up verb its 2010 "Word of Summer." The respected publisher says the pseudo word is the one most-often searched by users of its online dictionary.
Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate and former governor of Alaska, used it twice in July, once on a news show and later in a Twitter posting where she called on peaceful Muslims to "refudiate" the plan to build a mosque near ground zero in Lower Manhattan.
Palin deleted the non-word, replacing it with another tweet, saying "peaceful New Yorkers" should "refute the Ground Zero mosque plan." Uh, maybe she meant repudiate? In an effort to put an end to the razzing she was getting, she posted yet again, arguing that the whole contretemps was Shakespearian. "'Refudiate,' 'misunderestimate,' 'wee-wee'd up.' English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!" We can thank George W. Bush for "misunderestimated," while President Obama gave us wee-wee'd up.
Other summer favorites from Merriam-Webster, sayeth the AP, include "inception" and "despicable," both from summer movies, and "opulent" to describe Chelsea Clinton's wedding.
The MSM doesn’t get it. Propaganda always works but when it comes to SARAH, it doesn’t. Two years later they are still at it.
How about Barry’s “Corpse-Man” malaprop?
All else aside, it REALLY irritates me when supposedly educated people, especially those with “Ivy league” credentials, cannot use simple words and phrases properly or use words that do not exist.
That’s our girl!
-PJ
If you're referring to Governor Palin, she didn't attend an "Ivy League" university. Unlike Mr. Obama, she had to pay her own way.
That is the only thing they have on her which is far better than the real mess the donkeys made out of the economy.
I don’t know if people realize this, but those jacks didn’t just pick the $787B figure out of the air when they decided on how much to spend on the porkulus. It is nearly equal to what was spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as of when the bill passed, and more if one considers additional legislation that added to it for a grand total of $862B (and counting - excluding interest).
They shouldn’t get all breathless about such things - sounds like someone needs a breathalyzer.
You do know that Sarah's "refudiate" was a Twitter typo, don't you? She didn't make the word up. It was an error that the MSM blew up in an attempt to embarrass her.
You do make a valid point, though, and I agree with it.
Obama's "corpse-man" would be my choice of an Ivy League linguistic failure. That one came straight out of his own mouth while he was reading a prepared text.
or gettin all “wee-weed up”.
“Irregardless”
It’s all Strategery I tell you.
Still like “cackle of rads”
Zeroastrianism: the narcissistic religion, founded by Barack Obama, that worships Barack Obama.
http://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&tbo=p&q=refudiate&num=10
It is a word that ignorant people used in place of refute and repudiate.
Ugh, that is a non-word in common circulation that I first heard in the army.
I was making a generalization. I, in no way, meant it as a slight to Saint Sarah.
I was making a generalization. I, in no way, meant it as a slight to Saint Sarah.
All of English is made up words. It is a living language. Now if we were talking in Latin it would be hard to make up a word since the language is now considered dead.
any language that is spoken and used in everyday interaction will add words and subtract words. It is how a language evolves.
Someone had to make up the word billion, million, quadrillion, computer, ipod, ipad, etc etc.
your clueless.
Of course, you didn't. It's not as if this article is about her, or anything.
The generally-accepted authority is Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. Is "refudiate" in there? Go look, I'll wait. For the life of me, I cannot find it in my copy. What has Edison to do with anything?
All of English is made up words.
Did you figure that out all by yourself?
Now if we were talking in Latin it would be hard to make up a word since the language is now considered dead.
How can a language used every day in legal and medical discourse, to name just two common uses, be considered "dead?" Greek and Latin word elements are combined all the time into new words and phrases.
any language that is spoken and used in everyday interaction will add words and subtract words. It is how a language evolves.
So, ebonics is, in your studied opinion, a language? Also, you forgot to capitalize.
Someone had to make up the word billion, million, quadrillion, computer, ipod, ipad, etc etc.
Comma usage gives you trouble, too, eh? iPod and iPad are products whose names were created on the fly as the results of research and the desire to make up words that took advantage of the "lowercase 'i' in front of some otherwise innocuous word" trend in product marketing.
your clueless.
You're. As in "you are." It's a contraction.
For your information, I was making a general statement regarding a disturbing trend among our political "betters." Obviously, the subtlety of that statement caused you inordinate distress. In no way was I referring specifically to anything any particular politician uttered, least of all Sarah the Magnificent. While I do support Sarah Palin, the inordinate love--dare I suggest worship?--bestowed upon her by some people is disturbing. It reminds me of something, some phenomenon, that occurred recently in American politics regarding a junior senator from Illinois.
or as Webster’s own website might say:
“
To decide which words to include in the dictionary and to determine what they mean, Merriam-Webster editors study the language as it's used. They carefully monitor which words people use most often and how they use them.
Each day most Merriam-Webster editors devote an hour or two to reading a cross section of published material, including books, newspapers, magazines, and electronic publications; in our office this activity is called “reading and marking.” The editors scour the texts in search of new words, new usages of existing words, variant spellings, and inflected forms–in short, anything that might help in deciding if a word belongs in the dictionary, understanding what it means, and determining typical usage. Any word of interest is marked, along with surrounding context that offers insight into its form and use. “
or for people clueless like you, a word has to first appear in usage (i.e someone has to make it up and its coinage must be picked up by society as a whole) Webster's in other words is a lagging indicator of word usage. Not the source of what is a word or is not a word.
Latin is not spoken nor is it written nor learned as a native tongue. it is considered a dead language. Latin words are taken into English language. The latin language is dead. I don't know how much simpler to make it for you.
Is Ebonics a language? Is Spanish a language? since Spanish grew out of the Latin language like Ebonics is growing out of the English language it might be. Only time and usage will tell. If Ebonics takes hold in 100 years it might be a new language. Just like Spanish, just like French, just like English.
Common usage determines what is a word and what isn't. It doesn't matter if its done for marketing or not. I guess in your little world McDonald’s is not a name, or a hotdog, or a hamburger since those words where coined for marketing purposes.
anyone that uses terms like Saint Sarah, Sarah the Magnificent is not a supporter of Palin. the only people that use such terms are her detractors. I don't know why you have to try to lie about it.
What, Sarah Palin supporters are not allowed to to be sarcastic? Good thing you're full of it in that regard.
You don't know me, so I will run through this for you one time: I am a fan and supporter of Sarah Palin; when I use terms like "Saint Sarah" to describe her, I'm making fun of you, not her.
As for the rest of your argument regarding language, where to begin? I will end that portion by simply stating that English was influenced by, but did not evolve from, Latin. For your own edification, I refer you to your local library.
So now you say You make fun of Palin’s supporters yet support her. So I guess that means you are making fun of yourself. No I don't know you but from your comments it's questionable if you support Palin. Making fun of someone or their supporters does not lend itself to the classic definition of “support” but you go with that.
Who said anything about where English came from? You asked about Ebonics. I said Spanish came from Latin and that Ebonics had the same possibility to become a language. but nice try there.
Finally, we were talking about where a word comes from. Your entire point was it was not in the dictionary and therefore not a word. Since you tried to change the subject instead of continuing the debate, I will take it as you admitting you were completely wrong on your first post.
Unless of course you can refudiate my points and Webster's definition of what makes a word a word....
Nope, just you. I am making fun, now, of how personally you are taking what you have built up in your mind as a grievous slight against your icon. I am, indeed, a Palin supporter and a fan. My facebook page even shows that for all to see. However, I do not partake of to the hero worship of the woman to which so many of her other supporters subscribe.
Unless of course you can refudiate my points and Webster's definition of what makes a word a word.... "
Well, I would refudiate what you're saying but, alas, I cannot find a definition for it.
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