With dictionary and editing tools at our disposal, it is a mystery that typos still exist. It happens with the built-in auto-correct tool on mobile devices frequently. It’s no big deal when you’re texting with friends or you make an error on a Facebook post on your personal profile, but when all eyes are on you — and you are the President-elect — there should be more care in what you say and how you spell it.
One of the most bombastic Tweeters of our time, Donald Trump, is known for speaking his mind, often engaging in such a way that would make a surly teenager look like the Pope. He has been scrutinized for his inability to learn when to bite his tongue, and whoever else is running the account is unfortunately guilty by association.
Well, just when we think that we’ve seen everything from Trump’s Twitter account … SURPRISE!
Donald Trump (Twitter)An early morning tweet regarding the appropriation of a U.S. drone in international waters by China would soon become the subject of Twitter users. Trump’s tweets are usually rife with typos, and the tone is something that we’ve grown accustomed to. It was his use of the word “unpresidented” instead of the more common (and accurate) term, “unprecedented” that got Twitter buzzing.
There are so many things that one can read into with this faux pas. First of all, there’s the hyping of an incident which was of no threat at all. China returned the craft. No harm, no foul. Then, there’s the invention of an entirely new word. A very ironic term, according to many, considering it could mean “impeachment” if we really wanted to go there.
What better, more organic, Orwellian outcome than for an authoritarian ditz like @realDonaldTrump to coin it? “He was then #Unpresidented” pic.twitter.com/dEzVCYm9hP
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) December 17, 2016
That sound you just heard was 10,000 future Trump biographers rushing at once to copyright the title “Unpresidented.”
— Life’s Scary Enough (@BilgeEbiri) December 17, 2016
Some of the replies under the original tweet (which took staffers 87 minutes to correct) were really good zingers, but no one blasted Trump better than the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Good morning! The #WordOfTheDay is…not ‘unpresidented’. We don’t enter that word. That’s a new one. https://t.co/BJ45AtMNu4
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) December 17, 2016
You know you goofed when the actual dictionary is making fun of you, and it is probably one of the funniest things to happen since George W. Bush’s “Fool me once” bit.
This particular presidential race has made history for a lot of reasons that are not necessarily great. We’ve seen a lot of ugliness and some bad examples set by Trump. These behaviors are unfitting of someone who is elected to be the leader of a country. He’s received all of the votes he needed from the Electoral College, so, for the next four years, he’s the President of the United States. Even though expecting him to stop tweeting the way he does is a long-shot, at least maybe this incident will drive him to crack open that dictionary and spellcheck his tweets.
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