Grammar Slammer

I just realized that my Toastmasters Club is meeting tomorrow and I've got my first defined Action Item/Role: Grammarian.  One of the more experienced members told me that this is a good way to ease into meeting participation -- easier than last week when I did Table Topics, which involves taking a random topic and givng an unprepared talk at the lecturn for 3 minutes on the topic. 

Perhaps I'm dating myself (I've mentioned in a previous post that I'm not adverse to my own company!), but when I was presented with the task of Grammarian the figure that immediately sprang to my mind was the Grammar Slammer Bammer:   from Billy Van and Vincent Price's Hilarious House of Frightenstein: http://www.frightenstein.com/show.html.  

In fact, according to the Toastmasters International website, as Grammarian, I need to select a Word of the Day, which meets the following criteria:

1. helps members improve their vocabulary

2. it should be a word that is easily incorporated into everday conversation

The secondary task of the Grammarian is to write down "any awkward use or misuse of the language (incomplete sentences, sentences that change direction in midstream, incorrect grammar or malapropisms) with a note of who erred. For example, point out if someone used a singular verb with a plural subject"; i.e. be a Grammar Slammer. Sound the Siren!

I've been on the lookout for a word that meets criteria 1 and 2 since I was made Grammarian (sigh, perfect is the enemy of the good), and I'll settle on one before I close my eyes tonight.  I read about a most interesting prospect a few hours ago on Mark Jaffe's Twitter page: @wyattjaffe.

Mark Jaffe, President of Wyatt & Jaffe and I were on the same cosmic wave today -- evidenced by his fantastic Grammar Slammer link on Twitter today discussing the rise to infamy of the Palinism, "refudiate": http://nyti.ms/arrSVu.  Spoiler Alert: it's been named Word of the Year by the New Oxford American Dictionary.

While it might be amusing to play around with the newest 'legitimate word', I think I'll rekindle some interest in the roots of the word: refute and repudiate.

Repudiate is a verb, meaning: refusing to have anything to do with; to disown; refusing to accept; e.g. The boy repudiates his father's treatment of his mother.  Refute is a verb meaning to prove wrong by argument or evidence; to contradict; e.g. She refuted what had been considered the staus quo and and became an agent of change. 

Which one? 

I'm leaning towards repudiate.  Not because it's longer or fancier because, though it is longer, it's no fancier.  I simply think it meets criteria 1 and 2 better.  And it's more fun to say.