Oxford University Press has named “refudiate” Word of the Year 2010, a spelling blunder made by Sarah Palin on her Twitter profile earlier this year.
In July, Palin encouraged “peaceful Muslims” to “refudiate” plans for a Ground Zero mosque. She was subsequently mocked by political opponents and the media, to which she retorted, “English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too”.
Described as a fusion of the words ‘refute’ and ‘repudiate’, OUP said the word suggested “a general sense of ‘reject'”. Senior Lexicographer Christine Lindberg described Palin’s word as a “time capsule” of the past year.
In 2009, the award went to “unfriend” and other contenders included “vuvuzela”, “gleek” and “nom nom”.
