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In defense of Sarah Palin's English (A CNN liberal likes the new word -- 'Refudiate')
CNN ^ | 07/22/2010 | Roy Peter Clark

Posted on 07/23/2010 12:44:49 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

I don't care much for Sarah Palin's politics, but I do like her word "refudiate." As I just typed the word, a squiggly red line appeared under it with a suggestion that I change the word to repudiate. Well, for the record, I repudiate that suggestion and refudiate it.

People who don't like political figures often make fun of their language.

H.L. Mencken said of a Warren G. Harding speech: "It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash." Jimmy Carter's enemies portrayed him as a hick from the sticks, not just because of his brother Billy, but for his Southern speech, including his pronunciation of nuclear.

It doesn't seem to matter whether you have a reputation as brainy and articulate.

John Kennedy's Harvard dialect created a cottage industry of comic impressionists. At the other end of the spectrum was George W. Bush, whose Bushisms were legion. Opponents of President Obama attack his use of language as elitist, professorial or passionless.

In other words, Palin stands in good company. And I stand with her.

What was her crime? She made up a new word --unintentionally perhaps, but it doesn't matter.

I once referred to a highly paid athlete as a godzillionaire. I meant to say gazillionaire, but when I caught myself, I realized my "mistake" was better: the athlete's wealth was ginormous, as big and monstrous as the Japanese icon Godzilla.

The words web and log gave birth to blog. The merger of gigantic and enormous gave us the increasingly popular ginormous, which I thought was a kid's malapropism until I read it on a billboard.

(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: english; palin; refudiate; sarahpalin
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There's a chance that Palin, who compared her language creativity to Shakespeare's, may in fact be more in tune with Mrs. Malaprop, a famous theatrical character who appeared in Richard Sheridan's 1775 play "The Rivals."

The great lady would lend her name to the confusion of language, as when she meant to say pinnacle but referred to another character as "the very pineapple of politeness."

1 posted on 07/23/2010 12:44:52 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

The gathering place of idiots: CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, etc.


2 posted on 07/23/2010 12:46:49 PM PDT by cranked
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To: SeekAndFind

At least Gov. Palin doesn’t think that there are 57 states, that Canada has a President and she certainly doesn’t need a teleprompter to talk to a classroom full of children.


3 posted on 07/23/2010 12:47:39 PM PDT by pnh102 (Regarding liberalism, always attribute to malice what you think can be explained by stupidity. - Me)
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To: pnh102

I’m flummoxified !!


4 posted on 07/23/2010 12:48:54 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Obama is the stupidest president ever. Degrees or not. Refudiate that.


5 posted on 07/23/2010 12:49:06 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (JUST VOTE THEM OUT! teapartyexpress.org)
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To: SeekAndFind
Navy Corpseman
6 posted on 07/23/2010 12:49:23 PM PDT by DTogo (High time to bring back the Sons of Liberty !!)
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To: SeekAndFind

What’s the difference between refudiate and refute?


7 posted on 07/23/2010 12:49:23 PM PDT by nikos1121 (Praying for minus 24 today....at least minus 23...)
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To: pnh102

And she doesn’t make embarrassing postings on chat sites thinking nobody will ever see them.


8 posted on 07/23/2010 12:49:53 PM PDT by DManA
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To: SeekAndFind

Its all invenereal to me...


9 posted on 07/23/2010 12:50:05 PM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole....)
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To: cranked

Refute - to contest, possibly prove wrong . Refudiate - just like “Commentate” used by Obama’s constituency when the word ‘comment’ should be used. A commentator is just a bullshit word from ‘journolists’; the more appropriate form of describing a twit on TV talking about things they don’t know anything about is “News Reader” just like the do in Britain.


10 posted on 07/23/2010 12:50:46 PM PDT by Gaffer ("Profiling: The only profile I need is a chalk outline around their dead ass!")
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s quite clear. Refudiate = repudiate + refute. :-)


11 posted on 07/23/2010 12:51:33 PM PDT by ArmyTeach ( When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. (TJ))
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To: SeekAndFind
I was going to have a baseball cap made with the word “Strategery” on it.
12 posted on 07/23/2010 12:51:47 PM PDT by cruise_missile
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To: nikos1121

Intelligence


13 posted on 07/23/2010 12:52:05 PM PDT by Gaffer ("Profiling: The only profile I need is a chalk outline around their dead ass!")
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To: cranked

Those familiar with microphones know that you have to soften your “P”’s when speaking in an amplified sound system.


14 posted on 07/23/2010 12:53:08 PM PDT by Loud Mime (Argue from the Constitution: Initialpoints.net)
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To: SeekAndFind
Opponents of President Obama attack his use of language as elitist, professorial or passionless.

His beliefs are elitist (and statist).

Obama's use of language is pedestrian, run-of-the-mill leftwing political cliches.

The press has been aching for anything out of Obama's mouth that they can pretend is Lincolnesque.

He's given them absolutely nothing they can work with with a straight face.

15 posted on 07/23/2010 12:53:40 PM PDT by SirJohnBarleycorn
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To: SeekAndFind
(A CNN liberal likes the new word -- 'Refudiate')

Good, I'm glad -- is he going to give credit where credit is due then, since this word was used YEARS earlier than Gov. Palin's most recent use?

16 posted on 07/23/2010 12:54:36 PM PDT by MozarkDawg
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To: cruise_missile
New bumper sticker “I refudiate Obamas economic strategery”
17 posted on 07/23/2010 12:56:13 PM PDT by normy (Don't take it personally, just take it seriously.)
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To: nikos1121

Nothing; in the Austrian language.


18 posted on 07/23/2010 12:56:49 PM PDT by pingman (Price is what you pay, value is what you get.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Refudiate is a perfectly cromulent word.


19 posted on 07/23/2010 12:56:56 PM PDT by FewsOrange
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To: SeekAndFind; All

We gotta stop all this racialistic prejudism and learn to harmonate as one American peoples.


20 posted on 07/23/2010 12:57:06 PM PDT by conservativeharleyguy (Democrats: Over 60 million fooled daily!)
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