Twitter beefs are always fun to watch unfold. Who didn’t love watching Patton Oswalt insult Salon or Kanye West talk about Wiz Khalifa’s pants? What’s a little more unexpected is seeing Merriam-Webster take a shot at its biggest rival, Dictionary.com.
On Monday, Dictionary.com tweeted a fairly mundane picture, along with a quote from author Abigail Reynolds.
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) April 11, 2016
But whatever sassy intern was left in charge of Merriam-Webster’s Twitter account noticed something didn’t quite add up.
.@Dictionarycom There’s no cream in that coffee.
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) April 11, 2016
Whoa. Did one dictionary just diss another dictionary? Yes. And unless Queen Elizabeth calls Alex Trebek’s mustache gauche, that’s probably the most unexpected shade we’re likely to see this year.
Twitter users responded appropriately.
https://twitter.com/MilesKlee/status/719940795587952640
https://twitter.com/RuthieFri/status/719885669808545793
https://twitter.com/SteinlageT/status/719711822333358080
Dictionary.com tried to recover by posting an explanation, along with a GIF of its own, but it didn’t really work.
@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
Are Dictionary reps trying to say that coffee without cream is a variation of coffee with cream? Pretty thin, Dictionary.com, pretty thin.
In the end, they admitted defeat, and apologized the way we all do nowadays—a hashtag and a wink:
@MerriamWebster #YouAreAbsolutelyRight ;)
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) April 11, 2016
Somewhere Noah Webster is looking down and laughing his ass off.
