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.
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) April 11, 2016
Nothing to hate on there, right? WRONG, because Merriam-Webster came back and “actually’d” the crap out of them:
.@Dictionarycom There's no cream in that coffee.
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) April 11, 2016
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
RT @MerriamWebster: .@Dictionarycom There’s no cream in that coffee. #EbrojiMoments pic.twitter.com/TfXmLRVbF6
— charlie (@ch) April 12, 2016
@MerriamWebster @Dictionarycom pic.twitter.com/Hnt3nyZnDK
— Tony Sonita (@Sonitasaurus) April 12, 2016
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:
@MerriamWebster Abigail Reynolds wrote variations of Jane Austen novels. So, this image is a variation of her quote. pic.twitter.com/YmalztcNZL
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) April 11, 2016
@MerriamWebster #YouAreAbsolutelyRight ;)
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) April 11, 2016
Still, I’m calling it: MW: 1 – Dictionary.com: 0.
(Via EOnline)