‘Refudiate’ Named Word Of The Year

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SAN FRANCISCO (GaeaTimes.com)- The word ‘refudiate’ first seized the limelight earlier this year when it was used by Republican leader Sarah Palin during a Fox television appearance in which she famously asked President Barack Obama to ‘refudiate’ the charges that he had made about the Tea Party movement by calling them racist. The term which was popularized by the former vice-presidential candidate was recognized by the New Oxford American Dictionary on Monday when it was named as the winner of the 2010 Word of the Year award. The term ‘refudiate’ is presumed to be a blend between the words ‘refute’ and ‘repudiate’

A statement that was issued by the Oxford American Dictionary while making the announcement pointed out that keeping in view the different contexts in which Sarah Palin has used the term ‘refudiate’, it seem that both the words ‘refute’ and ‘repudiate’ do not consistently give the same meaning. Moreover, the Oxford American Dictionary also went on to say that the term ‘refudiate‘ more or less stands on its own and so the decision to give the recognition to the word was taken by them.

When Sarah Palin used the word in July this year, she immediately seized the attention of the national media although her critics did not let go the opportunity to ridicule the Republican leader for using a word that does not exist. Following July’s TV appearance, Sarah Palin used the term ‘refudiate‘ once again few days in a post of the micro-blogging site Twitter as she talked about the controversy surrounding the issue of building a mosque near Ground Zero.