Merriam-Webster wrote an eye-opening response after the host of a morning talk show on YouTube excitedly announced that their aunt miraculously awoke from her coma of 13 years.
The dictionary's social media account has been known to stir up some innocent mayhem online and even ruffle a few feathers, and this time, they trolled the modernization of the English language with an iconic suggestion.
On Tuesday, October 22, Bruke Fasil of EARLY: The Morning show, shared the happy announcement on X (formerly Twitter), writing, "My aunt woke up from a 13 year coma !!!!!"
The post reached over 9.8 million views.
While users left comments like, "God is good" and "Greys anatomy still going and they’re on Season 21," Merriam-Webster thought it might do some good to catch the recovering patient up to speed with the current verbiage.
The dictionary publisher advised the original poster:
"Please let her know that these are words now."
Included in the list were terms "the kids" have been saying these days, including, "twerk," "bougie" and "WTF."
Also included were common terms associated with smartphone cameras that were entered into parlance in the last decade, like "selfie" and "photobomb."
People had plenty of thoughts on the current social verbiage.
People also shared suggestions.
Some had notes.
The fact that this poor woman had been unconscious for over a decade and just woke up is cause for celebration.
But Auntie has a lot to catch up on.
@PreetBharara/X
@RepBrendanBoyle/X
@twesq/Bluesky
@christopherharris/Bluesky
@evangelinewarren/X
@FrankC164/X
AMC