In defense of Sarah Palin's English (A CNN liberal likes the new word -- 'Refudiate')

CNN ^ | 07/22/2010 | Roy Peter Clark

[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.

[pallis]

“...Jimmy Carter’s enemies portrayed him as a hick from the sticks, not just because of his brother Billy, but for his Southern speech....”

And because he is a dummy.

[Sister_T]

Opponents of President Obama attack his use of language as elitist, professorial or passionless.

The way 0bama speaks annoys me to no end! He ... "hisses" when he speaks, enunciating every single "s" in every word that contains it or even sounds like it. I'm like, "What am I listening to? A snake?" Must be the microphone that seems to emphasize it or something but it is annoying!

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I don't care much for Sarah Palin's politics, but I do like her word "refudiate."

I like Palin's politics, but I don't like the word "refudiate". There's already a perfectly good, almost identical word - "repudiate" - which means exactly what she wanted to say.

I think one of the English language's greatest strengths is it's ability to adapt and evolve. For instance, there's a word I'd never heard before that I've been hearing increasingly in Silicon Valley, especially in the workplace: "prepone". This word seems to have sprung up originally in India, where it's used to mean the opposite of "postpone". You "prepone" a meeting from 11AM to 9AM. Weird at first, but it makes sense. But "refudiate" pretty much seems to mean exactly the same thing as "repudiate".

[WeatherGuy]

You mean CNN found time to fit in a story other than Shirley Sherrod 24/7?

[Spok]

I’m sure he made fun of the ‘bama’s mispronouncing of ‘corps’? Didn’t he?

[cruise_missile]

HA!

And they are far better than what we have now.

[Buckeye McFrog]

refuse AND repudiate....we have needed this word for some time!

[9YearLurker]

Oh, go back into your mittens drawer!

[EggsAckley]

My favorite made-up word is “gastrified” (gastrically satisfied).

[Maverick68]

I have seen no independently verifiable evidence that proves Barak Obama is more intelligent than either Bush or Palin....

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

" There's already a perfectly good, almost identical word - ...."

As Mark Twain said:

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”

[crosshairs]

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.

Except when you're referring to the 57 Islamic states. Or your Muslim,,,,oops I mean Christian faith (thanks Stephie).

[crosshairs]

Bring back sniglets. Oops, can I say that?

[FrankR]

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

They all have a common "C", and in line with the JournaLists it obviously stands for Cabal.

CNN = Cabal (of) Nattering Nabobs;
MSNBC = Many Stupid Nabob Broadcastering Cabal;
NBC = Negativity Broadcasting Cabal;
CBS = Cabal (of) Bungling Spinners;
ABC = Almost Broadcasters Cabal.

[TigersEye]

I’ll bet CNN liberals (pardon the redundancy) would love the word ‘returdgitate.’

[luvbach1]

Nor does she think that they speak Austrian in Austria!

[Slings and Arrows]

When I die I hope to be remembered as the very pineapple of politeness.

[allmendream]

To repudiate means to reject.

To refute means to prove wrong.

So refudiate means to reject because you’ve shown them to be wrong!

[Onelifetogive]

I used the word “flustrated” in front of some clients about 10 years ago. I am still not over the humiliation. A remain flustrated about it to this day...

[Talisker]

I used the word “flustrated” in front of some clients about 10 years ago. I am still not over the humiliation. A remain flustrated about it to this day...

I did a similiar thing once. I referred to "Cyberia" instead of "Cyberspace" during a Silicon Valley soiree'. That was bad enough, but then questions started coming about where I went in Russia... aarrgghh.