Refute='contest' in the wild

[Victor]

Well, if "refutation" means a argument that attempts to refute, why not
revert the verb to that meaning as well? So, I would suggest an
evolutionary process that went from refute I to refutation I to
refutation II to refute II. Of course, I am just making all that up.

VS-)

Wilson Gray wrote:
> If "refute" is going to be meaning both "argue against" and
> "successfully argue against," that's going to blow like Katrina.
>
> -Wilson
>
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 2:01 PM, Geoffrey Nathan <geoffnathan at wayne.edu> wrote:
>
>> 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=
>> ? 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=
>> ? occurred in a mailing entitled 'Obama vs. Cheney Smackdown ' dated today.=
>> =20
>>
>> Geoff=20
>>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org