The folks at Merriam-Webster have been known to be a little sassy on social media now and then, picking up on words (or non-words) that are being abused online in the name of politics or punditry.
Merriam-Webster quickly *becoming the MVP of Twitter trolling. ❤
— Karma's Coming (@karenlytle711) April 11, 2017
Monday’s word of the day was a clear shot at United Airlines, which took a PR beating online all day after video of a man being literally dragged off the plane after he refused to volunteer to give up his seat for crew members. “Refused to volunteer” must have had people scrambling for the dictionary to make sure that word thought what they thought it meant.
?'Volunteer' means “someone who does something without being forced to do it.” https://t.co/qNAcMyplhZ
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) April 11, 2017
I see what you did there.
— Abby (@abbyelliotts) April 11, 2017
@Jill_Jorgensen this is beyond shade. This is aggressive and I love it.
— Jack Sterne (@JRSterne) April 11, 2017
So, unless you do it without being forced, it’s not volunteering. To be fair, United’s CEO explained in an email that the staff on the flight followed the “involuntary denial of boarding process” once the voluntary route failed to produce the desired result.
"Voluntold" is useful.
— Dan Rosart (@_Torgen) April 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/mizmulligan/status/851604418021789696
https://twitter.com/ragingbrains/status/851609376104173568
Volundragged
— aileen™ (@aileen206) April 11, 2017
Voluntased
— Terry Thomas (@kannibal25) April 11, 2017
Volunterrible.
— Teal “Deboosted” (@sirenidica) April 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/Rakesh_WinServ/status/851611231320502272
https://twitter.com/psychosnowflake/status/851618945006276608
Mandatory Volunteers #United
— Big Texodus (@TobyCharleston) April 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/CatalanoMa/status/851624223957291008
Do you have to be conscious to volunteer? Asking for a doctor in Louisville
— James Derk (@JamesDerk) April 11, 2017
Can we get a "re-accomodate" definition?.. And please include that @united video as a visual… Thanks!
— Brian (@d_b_myers) April 11, 2017
You'll need to add a new definition for "re-accommodate." It's slang for mercilessly beating paying customers.
— Andrew Craft (@acraft) April 11, 2017
When even the dictionary is taking shots at you then you know ya messed up
— Andy Rexford (@andyrexford) April 11, 2017
Now @United is the one getting dragged… by @merriamwebster…
— Mike Gesme (@MJGesme) April 11, 2017
Exit question:
What does 'apologize' mean?
— Yuletide Yolk (@ewmda) April 11, 2017
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