Ivanka Trump cuddling her nephew while misusing the word 'otherwise'

Photo via IvankaTrump/Twitter Ceilidhann/Twitter Remix by Jason Reed

Ivanka Trump is getting blasted for this otherwise normal tweet

Otherwise, this story would be very different.

Photo of David Covucci 

David Covucci

Internet Culture

Posted on Sep 20, 2017   Updated on May 22, 2021, 4:50 pm CDT

Words… what’s the point?

Sure, they’ve allowed our society to reach countless milestones that we may have never been able to achieve if we were constrained to communicating solely through grunts, but like… the hassle, you know?

They’re so easy to do (you “do” words, right?) incorrectly. Sometimes, for example, you want to say hanging out with your nephew is “incredible.” But because of “words,” you mess it up, like Ivanka Trump.

After her day at the United Nations with her father, Ivanka said hanging with her brother Eric’s baby was “the best part of an otherwise incredible day!” But, “otherwise” in this context effectively means “different from” the subject of the sentence or phrase. So, one interpretation is that Ivanka said her day was incredible, but hanging with Luke was not. Of course, what she likely meant to say was that cuddling her nephew was “the best part of an already incredible day” or simply “the best part of an incredible day.” As it stands, however, the sentence doesn’t mean what she thinks it means.

See… if we didn’t have words, this wouldn’t be a problem.

Regardless of what she meant, Twitter wasn’t letting Ivanka get away with the mistake.

https://twitter.com/normwilner/status/910176761610215424

https://twitter.com/internettara/status/910376847476748288

https://twitter.com/PolitikMasFina/status/910478904510558208

https://twitter.com/PersianCeltic/status/910510026330185729

We’re sure it was just a slip-up and that Ivanka has an otherwise firm grip on the English language.

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*First Published: Sep 20, 2017, 11:46 am CDT

David Covucci

David Covucci is the senior politics and technology editor at the Daily Dot, covering the nexus between Washington and Silicon Valley. His work has appeared in Vice, the Huffington Post, Jezebel, Gothamist, and other publications. He is particularly interested in hearing any tips you have. Reach out at dcovucci@thedailydot.com.

David Covucci