Merriam-Webster And Dictionary.com Got Into The Geekiest Twitter Beef Ever

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There were shots fired on Twitter this week by Merriam-Webster at rivals Dictionary.com, in what I can only assume is an attempt at online language-reference dominance — proving that, yes, even sometimes academics throw down. It all started on Monday, having flown under our radar for two days (this isn’t exactly Kanye and Wiz we’re talking about here) when Dictionary.com innocently enough tweeted the following inspirational meme with a quote from author Abigail Reynolds, ostensibly to wish their followers a happy start to the week.

Nothing to hate on there, right? WRONG, because Merriam-Webster came back and “actually’d” the crap out of them:

Of course, those who did notice on Twitter were quick to revel in the shade:

https://twitter.com/kenan917/status/719627133753106432

https://twitter.com/RuthieFri/status/719885669808545793

https://twitter.com/MilesKlee/status/719940795587952640

https://twitter.com/SteinlageT/status/719711822333358080

https://twitter.com/spraytheist/status/719884626047713280

https://twitter.com/oxwof/status/719713498964566016

Eventually, Dictionary.com either decided to take the high road, or rolled over in submission — however you want to take it — tweeting back to admit their mistake and offer an explanation:

Still, I’m calling it: MW: 1 – Dictionary.com: 0.

(Via EOnline)