One musn’t underestimate the power Sarah Palin wields. Her massive influence has touched a lot of spheres of American life, and she’s now making her mark on an unlikely one—lexicography. First her term ‘hockey mom’ broke into the New Oxford American Dictionary. Now her portmanteau ‘refudiate’ has been declared by that same dictionary as the 2010 Word of the Year.

exclusive

On Monday, we reported that the New Oxford American Dictionary had named “teabagger” a runner-up for its “Word of the Year.” Notably missing from Oxford’s definition was any mention of the term’s other meaning. We contacted Oxford University Press to find out why, and the answer is sure to either please, or disappoint, the MSNBC anchors who put “teabagger” on America’s lips.

video

As we noted on Monday, “teabagger” was one of the runners-up for the New Oxford American Dictionary’s Word of the Year. From the start, it threatened to get more buzz than the winner, the trendy/techy neologism “unfriend.” Enter: Keith Olbermann.