October 14, 2026 · happened: On 23 November 2020

Spain's police corrects the academic's spelling: it's «tuits», Arturo

Spain's National Police posted a message against gender violence that ended with inclusive language: «cuenta con nosotrxs». Writer and Royal Spanish Academy member Arturo Pérez-Reverte criticised that «x» and asked whether a police force that wants to be taken seriously can write like that «in an official twit». The @policia account thanked him and attached the dictionary entry showing that the correct Spanish form is «tuit», not «twit».

«Gracias, Arturo. Tomamos nota para próximos "tuits" 😉»

The move is textbook: don't argue the substance, which was lost ground, just return the ball to exactly the other player's court. If the person correcting your language is a member of the language academy, the one reply that doesn't sound defensive is a language correction — with a source attached. It also works for what it avoids: no heavy sarcasm, no personal attack, just a «thank you» and a wink, so the institutional register survives intact. And it's short, which is half the win: less text means less surface area to counter. The lesson for any community manager is that restraint and having the last word are perfectly compatible.

Source: El Plural