Renege--6.1

Where I Found It

While reading an article "Monogamy is Not the Problem" on the Huffington Post on my boyfriend's I-phone. The article was broken down into five sub-heading that were to explain why cheating cannot be blamed on monogamy being unnatural. The quote said: "to "cheat" you need an agreement to renege on, namely monogamy."

Level of Familiarity

When I first read it, I thought to myself, isn't this a slang term? I had never seen this word, but I thought I had heard it, and I thought it was spelled differently, and I thought it was slang. So, then I thought, maybe I had the wrong word, and this meant something different than what I had first thought of.

What I immediatley thought was that the word was spelled "renig" and it was slang to say someone who gives, then takes back. I also thought it had some type of racist dimension.

 I  highlighted the word and hit "define," at first it said could not find the word, so I hit "search the web. I am not sure where that brought me but it gave me a definition.

What it Means

The first definition that was given to me on the I-phone said something along the lines of breaking a contract. I was lying in bed while I found it, and did not write it down, but told my boyfriend to write the word down so I could use it for my blog. Now, as I write this, I am using dictionary.com and that says renege means:
1. Cards.  to play a card that is not of the suit led when one can follow suit; break a rule of play.

2. to go back on one's word: He has reneged on his promise.

 

Reflective Commentary

 

As soon as I said this word to my boyfriend he brought the game uchre. I do not know how to play, and I am made fun of often for this. He said he knew what the owrd menat because of uchre and explained his version to me. I told him what I had found, that it meant breaking a contract, and that I had always thought this was slang.

 

I was amazed to find this is a real world and not spelled how I thought. I wonder where I first heard it to lead me to think what I had thought. It does have a negative connotation regardless.

 

As for where I found the word, I thought it was quite easy to grasp what the word meant based on the context: break, go back on...

 

I still do not see myslef using this word, not yet anyways, I still have to get away from the fact that I thought it was racist and slang...