如何优雅怼川普，韦氏词典教你用subtweet

09 如何优雅怼川普，韦氏词典教你用subtweet

自从“推特治国”的特朗普上台之后，推特也阵地不保，网民怼总统十分起劲，而韦氏词典则“闷声发大财”，以subtweet走天下。

“Subtweet” is not yet an official entry in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, because it has not met the dictionary's strict usage requirements.That is likely to change this year.

“Subtweet”尚未正式选入韦氏词典，因为韦氏词典选词具有严格的使用频率要求，而这个词还没达到要求，不过今年情况可能发生变化了。

在上一周，这个词在线上和线下都广泛使用，主要用于推特网民狂怼特朗普的运动当中，诸多大V们为这场运动举旗呐喊，不过有些却背后放暗箭，这其中就有韦氏词典的推特账号。默默推送一个词语定义，就能把当事人怼得颜面扫地，这骂人不带脏字的功夫甚高。

那么subtweet是什么意思呢？

A subtweet is a standalone response to someone else's tweet that does not mention the other person or their tweet at all.The people who follow both the tweeter and the subtweeter will see the tweets and make the connection, but the original tweeter won't be alerted to the comment.It's a sly—or passive-aggressive, depending on your view—interaction that appears only on Twitter.

Subtweet是一个单独的推文，其内容是对其他人的推文的回应，但并不会提醒那个人或者关联那个人的推文。同时关注这两个推主的人会看到subtweet，并做相关联系，而原推主不会收到提醒。这种做法只出现在推特上面，是比较狡猾，或者说是消极对抗的反应，取决于你怎么看。

不过这个词也运用到了现实中。

2016年格莱美颁奖礼上，泰勒·斯威夫特隐晦地回应了侃爷（Kanye West）在歌词中表示的是他“造就了她的成功。”

霉霉也不甘示弱，她的获奖感言是这样的：

As the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all the young women out there: There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success, or take credit for your accomplishments, or your fame.But if you just focus on the work, and you don't let those people sidetrack you, some day when you get where you're going, you'll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there.And that will be the greatest feeling in the world.

媒体们可都品出了霉霉的言下之意，他们也称这种暗戳戳的反击为Subtweet。就这样，这个词也在现实中流行起来。

Lauren Naturale, Merriam-Webster's content and social media manager, has been in charge of managing the dictionary's Twitter for about a year.Naturale, 33, says that while her approach to the account's tweets has remained the same, the public response has changed drastically.

Lauren Naturale是韦氏词典的内容与社交媒体运营经理，已经管理韦氏词典推特账号快一年了。她今年33岁，她说这一年来她发推的方式没变，但公众的反应却发生了天翻地覆的变化。

“Things that shouldn't be politically charged, like the definition of a fact, are being received as if they are politically charged,” Naturale says.“But our job is to provide people with accurate definitions.And some of the most interesting things we share on Twitter are the words people are looking up at a given moment.”

她说：像一个事实的定义这样的内容，并不会出现政治敏感，但是人们的解读使其变得似乎政治敏感起来。但我们的工作就是给人们提供准确的定义，而且我们发在推特上的有趣内容往往也是人们在某个特点时间点上正在查询的词。

While Merriam-Webster's “word of the day” tweets are decided on weeks ahead of time, its posts about trending searches are the ones making the post impact.Take, for example, the definition of “fact,” which was posted on the same day as Kellyanne Conway's much-mockedtelevision interview, in which Conway used the term “alternative facts” to describe false information.

尽管韦氏词典“每日单词”推特发布的内容提前几周决定的，但其与热搜相关的推文影响最大。比如说，“事实（fact）”的定义，当天凯利安·康威（Kellyanne Conway）在电视采访中也用到了这个词，她用“另类事实（alternative fact）”来描述假消息，备受讽刺。

These tweets, though based on trending user look-ups, reveal hypocrisy and draw sharp attention to the actions of the Trump administration.Naturale says that the response to recent tweets has been “overwhelmingly positive” and that many people have said they are subscribing to the Unabridged dictionary, buying a physical copy, or downloading the accompanying app.

这些推文，虽然是根据人们的最近查询的词汇确定的，却暴露了虚伪，还使得特朗普的一举一动备受关注。Naturale表示，最近这些推文反响出奇地好，许多人开始订阅这本包容万象的词典，买了实体书，或者下载了相关应用。

Before joining Merriam-Webster as their social lead, Naturale taught English at the University of California, Berkeley, while earning her Master's degree.“Running the Twitter for Merriam-Webster feels like all of the fun parts of teaching without any of the grading,” she says.

在做韦氏词典社交媒体负责人之前，Naturale在加州大学伯克利分校教英语，同时完成硕士学习。她说：“运营韦氏词典的推特时，我能感受到教学的一切乐趣，还不用判分。”

Educating the public has taken on new meaning in the current political climate.The fact that Naturale does so with subtle snark makes Merriam-Webster's posts all the more engaging.The account followed up the definition of “fact” days later with another pertinent response to Conway's “alternative facts” statement.

在当前的政治环境下，教育公众已经出现了新的意义。Naturale找的微妙的小麻烦，让韦氏词典的推文更受欢迎。在发布了“事实”的定义几天后，该账号又一次对康威的“另类事实”的言论做出回应。

Other posts require little explanation to get the message across.

其他的推文也浅显易懂。

What's next for Naturale, and the Merriam-Webster Twitter account, after a rise to subtweeting fame?

因为Subtweet火了一把之后，Naturale和韦氏词典推特账户下一步有什么打算呢？

“The more you learn about language, the more obvious it is that English is constantly changingand that even the rules you really should follow don't make a lot of sense,” Naturale says.“Those complexities make English more interesting, not less.We want to use Twitter to show people how interesting English really is.”

Naturale表示：“当你学语言学得越多，你就会越明显地感受到英语是在不断变化的，那些奉为金科玉律的规则对你来说也没什么意义了。英语的复杂之处使其更加有趣，而不是相反。我们想要用推特向人们展示英语实际上有多有趣。”

If pointing out these complexities means exposing holes in statements made by politicians, so be it.

如果说，指出英语的复杂之处意思就是揭露政客们言语中的漏洞，那么继续吧。

词汇总结

standalone ['stændə,ləʊn]

adj.单独的

A subtweet is a standalone response to someone else's tweet that does not mention the other person or their tweet at all.

Subtweet是一个单独的推文，其内容是对其他人的推文的回应，但并不会提醒那个人或者关联那个人的推文。

political climate

政治环境

Educating the public has taken on new meaning in the current political climate.

在当前的政治环境下，教育公众已经出现了新的意义。

pertinent ['pɜːtɪnənt]

adj.相关的，相干的；中肯的；切题的

The account followed up the definition of “fact” days later with another pertinent response to Conway's “alternative facts” statement.

在发布了“事实”的定义几天后，该账号又一次对康威的“另类事实”的言论做出回应。

sly [slaɪ]

adj.狡猾的；淘气的；诡密的

It's a sly—or passive-aggressive, depending on your view—interaction that appears only on Twitter.

这种做法只出现在推特上面，是比较狡猾，或者说是消极对抗的反应，取决于你怎么看。

hypocrisy [hɪ'pɒkrɪsɪ]

n.虚伪；伪善

These tweets, though based on trending user look-ups, reveal hypocrisy and draw sharp attention to the actions of the Trump administration.

这些推文，虽然是根据人们的最近查询的词汇确定的，却暴露了虚伪，还使得特朗普的一举一动备受关注。