- This word is used by almost every referee hired by the Rice Recreational center. It simply clipped the word referee into its shorter term, ref, and added the "ing" suffix to turn the word into a verb. People use it by saying, "I'm ref-ing a game this afternoon". The proper word is officiating, but ref-ing is a quicker way to express the same meaning.
Ref-ing
verb; derivation
to officiate a game as a referee
Etymology : Affixation of the clipping- Ref, which came from referee, which came from the word refer.
Source : conversations with other referees. Fall 2011
Last modified: 30 November 2011