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Who’s taking the fight to Trump? It’s Dictionary Guy Who’s taking the fight to Trump? It’s Dictionary Guy
(about 20 hours later)
One of the unexpected, and only pleasures of the first week of Donald Trump’s presidency, has been the emergence of some unlikely figures of the resistance. The librarian as hero has a noble lineage going back to the burning of the library at Alexandria, as does the archeologist as hero (not just Indiana Jones, but the real heroism of Khaled al-Asaad in Palmyra two years ago) and, of course, the reporter as hero, from Clark Kent to Carl Bernstein. To that list we might now add two new avengers, the lexicographer and the park ranger.One of the unexpected, and only pleasures of the first week of Donald Trump’s presidency, has been the emergence of some unlikely figures of the resistance. The librarian as hero has a noble lineage going back to the burning of the library at Alexandria, as does the archeologist as hero (not just Indiana Jones, but the real heroism of Khaled al-Asaad in Palmyra two years ago) and, of course, the reporter as hero, from Clark Kent to Carl Bernstein. To that list we might now add two new avengers, the lexicographer and the park ranger.
📈A fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality. https://t.co/gCKRZZm23c📈A fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality. https://t.co/gCKRZZm23c
There was, this week, no swifter and more definitive take down of Kellyanne Conway’s reference to “alternative facts” than from Merriam-Webster, the dictionary people, who crushed her with a simple and elegant tweet after they registered a surge in people looking up the word “fact”. Above a photo of Conway, they simply quoted the definition from their dictionary: “A fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality.”There was, this week, no swifter and more definitive take down of Kellyanne Conway’s reference to “alternative facts” than from Merriam-Webster, the dictionary people, who crushed her with a simple and elegant tweet after they registered a surge in people looking up the word “fact”. Above a photo of Conway, they simply quoted the definition from their dictionary: “A fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality.”
Over at the National Parks Service, meanwhile, an unknown Twitter operative from the Badlands National Park in South Dakota defied a Twitter ban imposed by the government to send four tweets about climate change, while someone else in the parks service appears to have set up an unofficial “resistance” Twitter account, beyond the authorities’ reach (@AltNatParkSer).Over at the National Parks Service, meanwhile, an unknown Twitter operative from the Badlands National Park in South Dakota defied a Twitter ban imposed by the government to send four tweets about climate change, while someone else in the parks service appears to have set up an unofficial “resistance” Twitter account, beyond the authorities’ reach (@AltNatParkSer).
It is no coincidence that these pushbacks come not just from agencies Trump despises but from categories of human beings for whom one assumes he feels the same way. The philistinism of the Trump White House makes the idea of Dictionary Guy strangely powerful, not as defender of the culture but of the more basic idea that words have non-negotiable meanings and whose very flatness makes him harder to fight. This was no partisan outburst, but merely the assertion of fact, disinterested as the sea, neutral as weather. It is no coincidence that these pushbacks come not just from agencies Trump despises but from categories of human beings for whom one assumes he feels the same way. The philistinism of the Trump White House makes the idea of Dictionary Guy strangely powerful, not as defender of the culture but of the more basic idea that words have non-negotiable meanings and whose very flatness makes him harder to fight. This was no partisan outburst, but merely the assertion of fact, disinterested as the sea, neutral as weather.
Sweating the small stuffSweating the small stuff
I think I have said this before but Dippin Dots are notthe ice cream of the futureI think I have said this before but Dippin Dots are notthe ice cream of the future
The discovery of footage showing Conway doing standup comedy years ago actually humanises the woman, which can’t be said for background trivia that has surfaced about White House press secretary Sean Spicer.The discovery of footage showing Conway doing standup comedy years ago actually humanises the woman, which can’t be said for background trivia that has surfaced about White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
Spicer’s history of engaging in Twitter fights with retailers has a Basil Fawlty-esque edge to it, that combination of manic over-reaction and mad escalation over time. Several years ago, Spicer let loose at a manufacturer of freeze-dried ice cream called Dippin’ Dots, whose slogan used to be “Ice Cream of the Future”.Spicer’s history of engaging in Twitter fights with retailers has a Basil Fawlty-esque edge to it, that combination of manic over-reaction and mad escalation over time. Several years ago, Spicer let loose at a manufacturer of freeze-dried ice cream called Dippin’ Dots, whose slogan used to be “Ice Cream of the Future”.
“Dippin’ dots is NOT the ice cream of the future,” tweeted the man who, six years later, would become spokesman for the leader of the free world. A year later, he tweeted: “I think I have said this before but Dippin’ Dots are not the ice cream of the future.” Several months after that, a third tweet: “Ice Cream of the Past: Dippin’ Dots Files for Bankruptcy.”“Dippin’ dots is NOT the ice cream of the future,” tweeted the man who, six years later, would become spokesman for the leader of the free world. A year later, he tweeted: “I think I have said this before but Dippin’ Dots are not the ice cream of the future.” Several months after that, a third tweet: “Ice Cream of the Past: Dippin’ Dots Files for Bankruptcy.”
Dippin’ Dots expressed mild surprise this week when appraised of this history and a spokeswoman said: “Dippin’ Dots tries to stay very out of the political scene … ice cream is probably the least political of things you can find. It’s about making friends and not foes.” Nicely handled guys. Dippin’ Dots expressed mild surprise this week when apprised of this history and a spokeswoman said: “Dippin’ Dots tries to stay very out of the political scene … ice cream is probably the least political of things you can find. It’s about making friends and not foes.” Nicely handled guys.
Spicer, on the other hand, spent the week haggling over crowd size, at least staying constant in his concern for the little stuff. Meanwhile, no word yet from Target, the chain store which Spicer lambasted via Twitter in 2014: “Come on @target -- just realized the two gallons of milk you sold me expire tomorrow” – and the clearest indication yet that Trump hires in his own image.Spicer, on the other hand, spent the week haggling over crowd size, at least staying constant in his concern for the little stuff. Meanwhile, no word yet from Target, the chain store which Spicer lambasted via Twitter in 2014: “Come on @target -- just realized the two gallons of milk you sold me expire tomorrow” – and the clearest indication yet that Trump hires in his own image.
No dictionary requiredNo dictionary required
Licence with the language is, of course, permitted when the author is Philip Roth. This week, the 83-year-old engaged in an email exchange with the New Yorker, which asked him whether his 2004 novel, The Plot Against America, in which a fictional Charles Lindbergh assumes the presidency, had foreshadowed Trump. No, said Roth, and made the point that Lindbergh, for all his fascist sympathies, was a genuine hero, rather that someone like Trump, “ignorant of government, of history, of science, of philosophy, of art, incapable of expressing or recognising subtlety or nuance, destitute of all decency, and wielding a vocabulary of 77 words that is better called Jerkish than English”. No action from the dictionary required. Licence with the language is, of course, permitted when the author is Philip Roth. This week, the 83-year-old engaged in an email exchange with the New Yorker, which asked him whether his 2004 novel, The Plot Against America, in which a fictional Charles Lindbergh assumes the presidency, had foreshadowed Trump. No, said Roth, and made the point that Lindbergh, for all his fascist sympathies, was a genuine hero, rather that someone like Trump, “ignorant of government, of history, of science, of philosophy, of art, incapable of expressing or recognising subtlety or nuance, destitute of all decency, and wielding a vocabulary of 77 words that is better called Jerkish than English”. No action from the dictionary required.