We’ve all seen our fair share of celebrity Twitter beefs, but few have been quite so nerdy as the recent social media showdown between SUE the T. rex and the Merriam-Webster dictionary, according to Mashable.
The two make unlikely—but formidable—opponents: SUE, who’s owned by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, is the largest, best-preserved, and most complete T. rex ever found. As for Merriam-Webster, the seminal American dictionary revolutionized the English language by changing and standardizing spellings, and adding words like skunk, hickory, and applesauce to our official printed lexicon.
Even though SUE’s been dead for some 60 million-odd years, the dino's social media alter ego was feeling feisty when it tweeted the survey below:
YOU HAVE BEEN RANDOMLY SELECTED TO OFFER FEEDBACK FOR THIS TWITTER FEED. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MORE OF HERE?
— SUE the T. rex ? (@SUEtheTrex) June 12, 2017
"Random feuds" won with a 32 percent vote. SUE obliged fans, and tweeted a subtle dig at Merriam-Webster’s account. Not surprisingly, the famously sassy social media account had a cutting retort in store:
Comin' for you, @MerriamWebster
— SUE the T. rex ? (@SUEtheTrex) June 12, 2017
We're out of your reach.
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) June 12, 2017
Twitter users watched the exchange unfold, and tweeted their own reactions to the drama.
That moment when a Dictionary beat a Dinosaur. Only on Twitter. Gold. pic.twitter.com/VonYL6yRbj
— Dr Eric Levi (@DrEricLevi) June 12, 2017
SUE tacitly admitted defeat with the below tweet…
....aannnnnd I'm immediately dunked on. https://t.co/h6O2zr1uOI
— SUE the T. rex ? (@SUEtheTrex) June 12, 2017
…and also re-tweeted a user who pointed out that even the most fearsome of fossils shouldn't pick a war of words with the mighty Merriam-Webster dictionary.
in retrospect, it was probably a mistake to get into a war of words with a dictionary
— Jonathan Aguilar (@AggleDetector) June 12, 2017
[h/t Mashable]