Refute='contest' in the wild

[Wilson Gray]

If "refute" is going to be meaning both "argue against" and
"successfully argue against," that's going to blow like Katrina.

-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain





On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 2:01 PM, Geoffrey Nathan <geoffnathan at wayne.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Geoffrey Nathan <geoffnathan at WAYNE.EDU>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Refute='contest' in the wild
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Here's a nice example of 'refute' used to mean 'argue against' without any =
> presupposition of success:=20
>
> Immediately after Obama=E2=80=99s speech, former Vice President Dick Cheney=
> Â delivered a speech refuting Obama=E2=80=99s comments about how to handle t=
> he Guantanamo detainees.=20
>
> This came from a weekly mailing from Cato, a libertarian think-tank and vir=
> ulent opponent of Cheney and in the context of an article attacking the pro=
> -torture views of some of our former rulers, errr, government officials. It=
> Â occurred in a mailing entitled 'Obama vs. Cheney Smackdown ' dated today.=
> =20
>
> Geoff=20
>
>
> Geoffrey S. Nathan=20
> Faculty Liaison, C&IT=20
> and Associate Professor, Linguistics Program=20
> +1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT)=20
> +1 (313) 577-8621 (English/Linguistics)=20
>
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