Culture

The Dictionary Just Dragged A Conservative Politician Over Their Terrible Ukraine Take

"We’re literally the dictionary."

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The official Twitter account for Dictonary.com has dismissed comments from a conservative US politician who blamed ‘millennial leftists’ for the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. 

The conservative politician representing South Louisiana, Captain Clay Higgins, went on a Twitter tirade and attempted to link Russia’s recent nuclear escalation to non-binary gender politics. 

The confused tweet was intercepted by the official Twitter account for Dictonary.com, which replied, “We’re not entirely sure what this tweet is supposed to mean, and we’re literally the dictionary.”

Dictonary.com’s reply was met with praise from observers, while others bemoaned the increased level of bad takes from American commentators.


This isn’t the first time Dictonary.com has stepped in to mediate unhinged tweets. In 2018, the website retorted to racist comments from American actress and comedian Roseanne Barr, who heaped abuse at one of Barack Obama’s former advisors in a since-deleted tweet. 

In Australia, Liberal MP Tim Smith has produced a similar shit-take, telling Australians to focus on “Real Issues Instead of Our Pronouns” accompanied by a photo of a chemical fire in Ukraine. Commentators were quick to denounce Smith’s post, labelling it another example of needless whataboutism.