Trump asks Americans to 'heel' after Boston protests. Merriam-Webster responds
In the time of social media, brands make headlines for their witty promotion campaigns and clever slogans. But not very often it's a dictionary. The much-loved Merriam-Webster has gained fame for their hilarious tweets everytime US President Donald Trump makes typos on social media. And he makes a lot of them. The latest was when he encouraged people to "heel" after the Boston protests.
After Trump's 'heel' debacle, Merriam Webster offers helpful definitions
"Our great country has been divided for decade, but it will come together again. Sometimes protest is needed in order to heel, and heel we will!" said @realDonaldTrump. @MerriamWebster helped the president with the right word: "heal (to become healthy again). heel (a contemptible person). he'll (he will)." For a change, Trump deleted his incorrectly-spelled tweet and issues a correct one this time.
This was the latest in a long line of lessons
Last February, Trump said it was an "honer" to win a presidential debate. Merriam-Webster defined the word as "one that hones". Them Trump called Senator Marco Rubio a "leightweight chocker". The dictionary said they had "no idea" what "leightweight" meant. For "chocker", they tweeted a link to the word "nope". And then Trump made an "unpresidented" error, and Merriam-Webster said: "That's a new one."
Merriam-Webster doesn't assist just Trump
It's not only Trump that Merriam-Webster helps; it feels responsible for his whole administration's spellings. When Counselor Kellyanne Conway defended Sean Spicer's presentation of the crowd size at Trump's swearing-in as "alternative facts", Merriam-Webster tweeted: "*whispers into the void* In contemporary use, fact is understood to refer to something with actual existence." When she defined "feminism" as "anti-male" and "pro-abortion", it corrected her.
A drastic increase in followers with new viral strategy
The strategy seems to have worked. This May, the dictionary's following on Twitter had increased by 1,80,000 than before, when its social media outreach was restricted to a "Word of the Day" tweet in the morning and a quiz in the afternoon.
Not the first time, Trump's 'covfefe' tweet broke the internet
On May 31, at 12:06 am ET, Trump famously tweeted: "Despite the constant negative press covfefe." The tweet spurred widespread speculation and trolling on what Trump meant by "covfefe," an apparent typo. The tweet was later deleted. White House ex-spokesman Sean Spicer had earlier said Trump's tweets "are considered official statements by the president of the United States."
Meanwhile, Twitterati in splits over 'heel' typo
Trump's 'heel' typo had Twitterati in splits. "I feal it in my fingers, I feal it in my toze," said @juliamacfarlane. "Boston, and the REST of the country, will #heel when the guy with the "best words" resigns so that he can learn how to spell 4-letter words," said @mmpadellan. "Now if that isn't a Freudian slip to fear…," tweeted @Harryslaststand.
