Words of the Year 2000

[Fred Shapiro]

On Mon, 8 Jan 2001 AAllan at AOL.COM wrote:

> The winner in the Brand-Spanking New category was "unconcede," to
> rescind a concession. Another candidate was "cell yell," loud talking on a
> cell phone.

"Unconcede" is not really Brand-Spanking New:

1996 _San Francisco Chronicle_ 6 Nov.  In a final mishap of a campaign
marred by strategic error, Dole conceded the race more than an hour before
the polls closed in the West -- only to turn around and "unconcede" later,
after vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp and other GOP leaders in
California protested the effect the early concession might have on highly
contested congressional races.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Public Services     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
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