Deny, rebut, refute
“The story is false, it’s completely untrue, it’s ridiculous.”
The words John Edwards uttered last fall to deny an affair with Rielle Hunter are coming back to haunt him — and grammarians.
If a story is false, that means it’s untrue. Completely. Looking back, Edwards’ redundancy hints at his guilt.
In the spirit of politicians’ sex scandals, let’s review the difference between deny, refute and rebut. There are many ways to weasel your way out of wrongdoing.
To rebut a National Enquirer story is to provide clear evidence or a reasoned argument against it. It marks a concerted effort to disprove, whether or not you successfully refute the story, which is to prove it wrong.
Neither rebut nor refute means deny, to simply disagree without trying to prove your veracity or succeeding at that effort. John Edwards denied a sexual affair with his overpaid filmmaker. He did not rebut it and he clearly did not refute it.
In a best-case sequence of events, a politician denies a charge, then he rebuts it and then he refutes it. John Edwards didn’t make it to second base; he was too busy rounding third with Rielle.
2 Comments
Pingback & Trackback
Random Post
Leave Your Comments Below
Subscribe
Picture Imperfect
View All in Picture Imperfect
Recent Comments
- "lesbian bondag…
in Deny, rebut, refute - Kylie Batt
in Specter the Defector - Fuckoffer-804
in Specter the Defector - Kylie Batt
in ABC, mind your p's and q's - Kylie Batt
in Too much hope, not enough commas - Kylie Batt
in Toned arms, lax speech - Kylie Batt
in Comparing partners - Kylie Batt
in True comfort - Kylie Batt
in Beauty Queen v. Blogger - Kylie Batt
in Specter the Defector
Most Popular
Guardians
Categories
- Politics (67)
- Celebrity (45)
- Sports (17)
- Business (8)
- Weekly highlights (5)
- New fame (4)
- Other posts (8)
- Media (13)
- Technology (1)
Tags Cloud
Archives
- April 2009 (5)
- March 2009 (3)
- February 2009 (2)
- November 2008 (6)
- October 2008 (42)
- September 2008 (37)
- August 2008 (50)

Hi!
My name is Jessika!