Grammar Moses picks apart refute, rebut, rebuff and rebuke

Last week I wrote "God himself" would have trouble writing a good one-column newspaper headline.

David Borck of Arlington Heights took me to task for that.

"You mentioned that God would even have some problems ... (actually, no) ... but the grammatical reference you used was "God, himself." I thought common preference was to capitalize the pronoun."

He cited grammarist.com, which says English speakers traditionally capitalize the pronoun and that it's a common practice among people of faith.

The thing is, David, I did capitalize "Himself" in that reference, and an astute copy editor changed it, taking note that the Associated Press Stylebook has us use lowercase pronouns to refer to monotheistic deities: he, him, his, thee, thou, who, whose, thy, etc.

The motto of our founder, Hosea Paddock, was "To fear God, tell the truth and make money." It remains on our editorial page to this day, but the AP Stylebook is always at my right hand.

Refute, rebut,

rebuff, rebuke

If there ever were four words whose definitions were more difficult to untangle, I want to know about them. I hear them mixed up as often as I hear them used properly.

I saved an email conversation one of our editors, Jim Davis, was having with Opinion Page Editor Jim Slusher and me (yes, we employ a lot of Jims) regarding a Guest View column on our editorial page. Sometimes we try to save writers from themselves.

"We shouldn't use the word 'refute,' which means 'disprove.' I'm betting she can't do that on the fly late on a Friday afternoon," Davis said. "A better word would be 'dispute.'"

JD was correct. The writer indeed disputed something but didn't have the evidence in her letter to disprove it.

Here is a rundown on exactly what those words mean and how to use them:

• Refute: To disprove beyond a doubt. Police refuted the woman's claim that she ran in to the casino simply to use the bathroom by showing her surveillance video showing her winning big at roulette.

• Rebut: To attempt to refute. The public defender rebutted the prosecutor's assertion that the defendant stole the box of Suzy Q's, saying the surveillance tape was "blurry."

• Rebuff: To reject in an ungracious manner. I offered to cook her dinner in my apartment but was rebuffed by my new neighbor 30 years my junior.

• Rebuke: To express strong criticism of one's actions. Bob rebuked his son for laying rubber on the driveway after they argued.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line.