Bright Works Press

Home of Oregon mystery writer Rod Collins

  • Fiction Books
    • Abiqua
    • Bitter’s Run
    • Spider Silk
    • Stone Fly
    • Bloodstone
    • Mariah’s Song
    • Not Before Midnight
  • Non-fiction
  • About Rod
    • Contact Rod
  • Blog
  • Fiction Books
    • Abiqua
    • Bitter’s Run
    • Spider Silk
    • Stone Fly
    • Bloodstone
    • Mariah’s Song
    • Not Before Midnight
  • Non-fiction
  • About Rod
    • Contact Rod
  • Blog
You are here: Home / Uncategorized / Is It a Typo?

Is It a Typo?

2 Comments

Millions of words and a few thousand books later, my attention is arrested by one word in Josephine Fey’s charming novel, A Shilling for Candles: “refutal.” What an interesting word.

My Google internet search is met with the question, “Did you mean ‘rebuttal?” So I’m not the only one to wonder if “refutal” is an English word or a typo. But, further down the screen, I also find, “Refutal” the act of refuting,” and I have to believe the word is simply a quaint but charming usage by one of our English sisters.

By the way, do you think it’s re-futal with a “you” sound, or a re-futal with a “cut” sound?

And now on to the next million words.
Rod

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Comments

  1. Catherine Lowry says

    December 21, 2018 at 4:06 pm

    I agree — that is a charming book. And I love the idea that writers (and others) can create words and language that we come to accept as common vernacular.
    Take the word “copacetic”. A very interesting story there regarding the origin. Lots of material up for refutal, maybe.

    Reply
    • Rod says

      December 21, 2018 at 5:19 pm

      Thanks! Agree. Parsimonious is another favorite of mine.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Copyright © 2023 · Author Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in