Monday, July 19, 2010

When it Ain't a Word - UPDATE

Well, if "refudiate" wasn't a word before, it sure is now. Beats "wee-wee'd up" anyway.

I've heard a lot of people say "refudiate" before, so it kind of cracks me up that this is a big deal. It's one of those "words" that's so similiar to the right one that if you slip into it people know what you mean so they usually don't even bother to correct you. Or maybe something like that has never happened to you and I just hang around grammatically incorrect people.

There's one word my mom always gets wrong like that and it drives me nuts. I correct her every time, and she still says it. I can't remember what it is right now, but I'm sure she'll do it again soon and at that time I shall inform you. I'm sure you'll be waiting on pins and needles until then.

"Ain't" wasn't officially a "word" for a loooong time, especially around picky English and Speech teachers. In college they still told us it wasn't a word, although that never made any sense to me since everybody uses it and knows what it means. How can it not be a word if I can communicate it to you and you can understand what I'm saying? It may be an improper word, but you cannot tell me it's not a word. My vorpal blade will go snicker-snack if you disagree with me.

Today you can find "ain't" in some dictionaries, so perhaps it now qualifies.

"Refudiate"will be added to the dictionary sooner or later, I'm sure. ;)

"Oh, she meant repudiate. Wow. An "f" for a "p." That's worth getting wee-wee'd up for."

Cubachi on Twitter:

@SarahPalinUSA invented "refudiate" and FDR invented "normalcy." Word creations are bipartisan.



UPDATE:

I just got back from my break and my co-worker asked me what'd I'd been working on. I told him about the "refudiate" thing. He looked at me like I had two heads. He totally thought it was a word. I told him it wasn't and he's like, "What? It's not? News to me."

I'm tellin' ya, I'm surrounded by grammatically incorrect people.

So, I expect the media will run this into the ground. At least you don't think of urine every time you hear it. Or dead people.

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