Words of 2010

from World Wide Words:

The New Oxford American Dictionary is as usual first out of the gate with its Words of 2010. 

The runners-up included TEA PARTY, VUVUZELA, WEBISODE, and CROWDSOURCING. 

The winner is Sarah Palin's error in July of writing REFUDIATE in a Twitter posting when she meant "repudiate". 

The editors say they won't add it to the dictionary, though they commented that "From a strictly lexical interpretation of the different contexts in which Palin has used 'refudiate', we have concluded that neither 'refute' nor 'repudiate' seems consistently precise, and that 'refudiate' more or less stands on its own, suggesting a general sense of 'reject'." 

I think that means they see some merit in it. They also make the point, not passed on in news reports, that Sarah Palin wasn't the first user - there are examples in books and newspapers going back decades. 

Incidentally, the Huffington Post take on the story was headlined "Palin Exonerized by New Oxford American Dictionary".