Lookups For Body Slam Surge 136,900 Percent Before Montana Election

Merriam-Webster defines a body slam as a wrestling throw in which the opponents body is lifted and brought down hard to the mat. According to the online dictionary, searches for the term surged exponentially on Wednesday night but not because our nation had tuned into a particularly thrilling night of WWE.

Lookups for 'body slam' are up 136,900%;GOP candidate in Montana special election accused of attacking a reporter. https://t.co/xyUtFQzaEY

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Lookups for 'body slam' are up 136,900%;GOP candidate in Montana special election accused of attacking a reporter. https://t.co/xyUtFQzaEY
Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) May 25, 2017

Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs was in Bozeman, Montana, covering a special election for the local congressional seat , which pitted the GOPs Greg Gianforte against Democratic candidate Rob Quist. On Wednesday evening, he tweeted that Gianforte had body slammed him and broken his glasses as he attempted to interview the candidate at his campaign headquarters.

Greg Gianforte just body slammed me and broke my glasses

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Greg Gianforte just body slammed me and broke my glasses
Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) May 24, 2017

In a statement, Gianfortes campaign claimed, improbably, that Jacobs aggressively got in the candidates face at an event, then grabbed Gregs wrist, and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground. A Fox News team was present, and published an account of the altercation that corroborated Jacobs. Gianforte has been charged with misdemeanor assault.

But what exactly is a body slam? As Merriam-Webster defines it, the move might look something like this:

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Heres how Fox News reporters at the scene described the incident: Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him.

Huh, sounds about right.