Sarah Palin ‘Refudiate’ Word Needs Definition

A repudiate definition is easy to look up. Yet, the repudiate definition may pale in comparison to a definition of refudiate, whenever that is created. Sarah Palin’s new word, refudiate, has already become the new buzz word in the blogosphere. Everyone is using it to either mock Palin, or to place her with all the other politicians who made up new words. But, although it was easy to figure out what ‘misunderestimate’ and ‘wee-wee’d up’ meant, a refudiate definition is harder to come up with.

When Palin’s ‘refudiate’ hit Twitter a few days ago, it became the new hot word of the day. However, it was basically just a misspelling of repudiate, and not a word Palin was trying to make up. Yet, now that it has spread, Palin has taken credit for coining it, and for making up words like Shakespeare did.

The definition of repudiate is to “reject emphatically as unfounded, untrue or unjust,” according to The Free Dictionary. In the context of her Tweet, Palin wanted people to repudiate plans for a mosque near Ground Zero. However, she is now asking us to refudiate it.

The Sarah Palin refudiate word is buzz-worthy, but, if it is going to be a real new word, it has to have a meaning. It cannot use the repudiate definition, although it is the closest thing to Palin’s original intent. If it is going to have the shelf life of other new political words, it needs to have a clearer meaning.

Palin evoked ‘misunderestimated’ and ‘wee-wee’d up’ as the forefathers of refudiate. ‘Misunderestimate’ is George W. Bush’s classic phrase, which took on a life of its own over eight years. The website Unword Dictionary calls it “To misunderstand someone’s behavior, writing, or speech in such a way as to be led to underestimate that person.”

As for ‘wee-wee’d up,’ Robert Gibbs came up with his own definition, as it referred to people who “get nervous for no particular reason.” Gibbs was likely trying to dig at Palin’s base, but she wound up using it to defend refudiate anyway.

Since the repudiate definition is taken, Palin’s refudiate definition has to be a little more original. It will have to expand on repudiate, just as ‘misunderestimate’ expanded on underestimate. But those two new words were created by accident, whereas Gibbs’ ‘wee-wee’d up’ was already planned out in his head, and had a definition to go with it.

However, wee-wee’d up was relatively forgotten in the political lexicon until a few days ago. The Sarah Palin refudiate buzz may last a little longer, even if it does not have a real definition yet.

Sources

The Free Dictionary- “repudiate”

The Unword Dictionary- “misunderestimate Definition”

The Globe and Mail- “Refudiate this: Palin defends word-mangling malapropism”