Merriam-Webster Dictionary Just Epically Trolled The UK With A Hilarious Joke For July 4th—And We're Cackling

The Fourth of July weekend celebration has officially passed, and it was a big one, with it also being the 250th anniversary of the signing of the nation's most important document.

People had all kinds of ways of commemorating the occasion, from get-togethers with friends to tattoos to unique fireworks shows.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary decided to have its own kind of fun over on X, using what it uses best: linguistics.

For the United States' 250th anniversary of the Fourth of July, Merriam-Webster had the perfect joke at the ready:

"Why is it 'cancelled' in the U.K. but 'canceled' in the U.S.?"

"Because we gave them that L in 1776."

You can see the post here:

The United States officially stepped away from the United Kingdom in 1776, and along with that came communication shifts, as well, with the U.S.'s own jargon, slang, and often spelling, creating enough of a distinction that there is now "British English" and "American English."

Plus, "giving someone the L" is a slang term in the U.S. for handing someone a big loss, as in, winning and making it super obvious that the other person or team lost. It's not giving big team player energy, but it can be funny!

Merriam-Webster also later clarified its joke, pointing out that both spellings in the United States are accurate, though the single-L option is more common.

Viewers found the joke hilarious and perfectly fitting for the United States' 250th anniversary.

Other viewers continued with the joke, pointing out similar examples to "cancelled" and "canceled."

At this point, now that 250 years have gone by, we hope we can have positive relationships with all of the wonderful people across the pond. However, there's nothing wrong with having a little fun and making some jokes about our history.

This joke was very well-played, and it's especially fitting that it came from Merriam-Webster!