New York Times Ignites a Twitter Frenzy with Historic ‘Dipsh*t’ Slur
The defiling of the Gray Lady took a historic pivot on Tuesday when the 168-year-old New York Times printed "dipsh*t" for the first time. | Source: AFP PHOTO / Mario Tama / Getty Images
The New York Times has long been considered the United States’ newspaper of record, and it’s with grotesque fascination that we watch the storied publication slowly descend into the vulgar mire where the rest of us dwell.
The defiling of the Gray Lady took a historic step forward this morning when a feature in the newspaper’s magazine edition introduced a new word into the New York Times lexicon: “dipsh*ts.”
The Defiling of the Gray Lady in One Twitter Feed
That news comes courtesy of the “New New York Times ” Twitter account, which publishes a breathless update every time the 168-year-old publication prints a word for the first time.
The account – and associated GitHub source code – is the brainchild of Max Bittker , a developer and artist living in New York. Bittker created the bot in 2017.
Thanks to this vital journalistic tool, we also know that – in this week alone – the NYT wordsmiths also introduced readers to obscure terms such as “wojape” (a classic Native American sauce), as well as linguistic triumphs like “horsewarming” (fairly self-explanatory) and “manpocalypse” (even more self-explanatory).
Just this morning, The New York Times Book Review published an excerpt from “The Witches Are Coming,” which includes the never-before-printed word “booooooooo.”
And pinned to the top of the New New York Times account’s feed sits a single word, first printed on March 28: “dead*ss.”
That tweet has nearly 18,000 likes, along with about 5,000 retweets.
Twitter Potty Mouths Geek Out After Congressman Swears in NYT Interview
But all Twitter seems to care about today is “dipsh*ts,” and potty mouths everywhere rejoiced as the NYT took a step down toward their everyday vernacular.
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that the article which introduced New York Times readers to “dipsh*ts” centered on Rep. Adam Schiff’s role in the Trump impeachment inquiry.
Unfortunately for rhetorical ambulance chasers eager to watch the Gray Lady’s style guide transform into a veritable Urban Dictionary of profanities, the word appeared in a quotation, not the body copy penned by author Jason Zengerle.
Rather, it came from sitting US Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), who used the term to describe fellow House member Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and his ilk. Maloney’s statement also included the equally-vulgar term “sh*tshow,” but it seems that this obscenity has graced the pages of the NYT before.
But fret not, all ye four-letter faithful. It’s a start. At this rate, it won’t be long before the NYT print edition reads less like a paper of record and more like the dialogue from President Trump’s locker room or – well, a conversation in the New York Times newsroom .
All the News That’s Fit to Print, indeed.
