Trump Is No Match For J.K. Rowling In This War Of Words

J.K. Rowling is not going to let Donald Trump away with anything, especially when he attempts to take credit for inventing a word.

Over the weekend, the word in question was “fake,” which came up during the president’s interview with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. The pair had been discussing fair treatment by the media.

“The media is really the word ― one of the greatest of all terms I’ve come up with ― is ‘fake,’” Trump said. “I guess other people have used it perhaps over the years, but I’ve never noticed it.”

Twitter didn’t miss a beat.

And neither did Rowling.

Twitter was all about her burn.

Others were willing to give him credit.

While “fake news” might be Trump’s claim to linguistic fame, “fake” has far older origins.

According to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of the term “fake” as an adjective was recorded in 1775. Mental Floss, however, links it more closely to “flash” language, or language used by English criminals in the 18th and 19th centuries.