Dictionary fact-checks America's vocabulary during debate

"What's a lepo?"
 By 
Marcus Gilmer
 on 
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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Sunday night's presidential debate, the second overall debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump this election season, and the action unfurled in a fast and furious manner.

And, lucky for America, Merriam-Webster and its lexicographers were, once again, live-tweeting the action and showing where the candidates and America were lacking in vocabulary skills.

Unfortunately, it was mostly America that needed fact-checking on words.


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Aleppo or "a lepo"?

For instance, it seems America had a Gary Johnson moment.

"Demagogic" vs "Demogorgon"

Other answers were more straight-forward, such as when Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump "demagogic."

But this is the Internet and the Internet had some fun.

"I have the best words"

There was also the issue of Trump's words (he has said before he has the best ones). Thankfully, Merriam-Webster was there to clear up one point of confusion.

Word soup

As the dust settled from the contentious debate, the list of spiking searches showed what viewers had on their mind the most -- and the words they needed to double-check.

But, in the end, the dictionary used Trump's own words to put a succinct point on, well, everything.

Topics Elections

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Marcus Gilmer

Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

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