EQUIVOCATE

I'm watching the Biden-Palin debate. It's better than Destroyed in Seconds or whatever my husband was watching with all the planes and cars crashing and exploding. I love the number of ways politicians have of saying "my opponent is a liar." The way to tell when a politician is lying is to watch his/her mouth. If the lips are moving, the pol is lying.

I suppose the kind way of say this is "my opponent misspoke." Since most people, not just politicians, tend to say what they feel will be most likely to ease things for themselves, most of us are stretching some portion of truth most of the time. It's just too easy to call someone in the public eye on the obvious distortions that come in the heat of debate.

The word of the day for October 2, 2008 is "equivocate" — Pronunciation: \i-ˈkwi-və-ˌkāt\
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Form(s): equiv·o·cat·ed; equiv·o·cat·ing
Date: 1590
1 : to use equivocal language especially with intent to deceive. 2 : to avoid committing oneself in what one says.

Our quote for the day is from William Lloyd Garrison (1805–1879), Salutatory of the Liberator, Jan. 1, 1831:

I am in earnest. I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will not retreat a single inch; and I will be heard!

;^) Jan