Rio Ferdinand finishes worst in Twitter footballer vocab study

Rio Ferdinand has been one of the most successful footballers when it comes to utilizing Twitter, gaining more than 1.1 million followers by tagging his tweets with phrases like "#oooff," hounding Piers Morgan for having "moobs," and calling his anyone who attacks him an "egg." And now, an analysis of the vocabulary used by footballers on Twitter has revealed what you probably figured by reading that first sentence: he's not exactly a walking thesaurus.

From Soccernet:

[A] Google study has revealed that 88% of Ferdinand's words were "basic" while 11% were "intermediate".

Other players to have been tested fared better, with Ferdinand's United team-mate Wayne Rooney (@WayneRooney) surprisingly articulate, with 43% basic and 56% intermediate.

Everton skipper Phil Neville had the most expansive vocabulary among his peers, using 59% intermediate words mixed with 40% basic.

However, none of the footballers in the study used more than 1% in advanced words.

This whole study feels like its only purpose is to reaffirm the old stereotype of professional athletes who have been promised fame and fortune just for kicking a ball since they were pre-teens as dumb lugs. If they analyzed the vocabulary of the average Twitter user, the! y would probably find that 1% in advanced words is an incredibly high threshold right before their eyes melted.

Regardless of intentions, it actually ended up proving that contrary to popular belief, Wayne Rooney is both literate and better at Scrabble than Rio. And that "f***ing" and "transplant" apparently count as intermediate words.

Photo: Getty