Former vice-presidential candidate, former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin has picked a title for her upcoming memoir. It will be called, Going Rogue: An American Life.

On first glance, it seems like an incredibly silly title for an autobiography. Then again, perhaps the word rogue means something different to me than it does to most people. Having played Dungeons & Dragons in my youth, I identify the word rogue with the player character class that engages in sneak attacks. In the make-believe world of Dungeons & Dragons, a rogue is a thief. They pick locks and discover traps. They prefer to attack their opponents by stabbing them in the back.

In all the years I played Dungeons & Dragons, I don’t think I ever played a character that was a rogue. A rogue always seemed to me to be, I don’t know, a dick. A rogue was just not something I even wanted to pretend to be in the make-believe magical fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons .

Can the word rogue be used without a negative connotation?  No, I don’t think so.  Merriam-Webster defines the word as a vagrant or a tramp, or a dishonest or worthless person.

So why then would Sarah Palin use the word to describe herself in her autobiography?  Maybe, just maybe it’s because it she knows the word fits.