Compare “Ian Bogost is a jerk” to another hypothetical subtweet, perhaps something like “I see it’s jerk day at The Atlantic.” The former explicitly mentions the target of the insult, while the latter leaves it ambiguous. Without context, it’s not clear what “I see it’s jerk day at The Atlantic” really means. But within a specific community who had been sharing and discussing a particular matter, say, a specific Atlantic story, the reference would be clear. “I see it’s jerk day at The Atlantic” is a subtweet deserving of the name, a speech act that sits beneath the surface of its subject and its reference. It does not reveal its purpose or its meaning, but relies on the surrounding context of a particular community of close-knit followers to produce its critique.

A true subtweet eludes response, because it is so ambiguous as to make response impossible. Only a neurotic or a narcissist or a paranoiac would ask after “I see it’s jerk day at The Atlantic,” wondering “if I’m the jerk you’re referring to?” or “I'm not sure if you’re talking about my article but if so feedback is appreciated!” Admittedly, there are plenty of those sorts online, but the subtweet acts as cover against any such responses.

There’s another kind of tweet that sits not below but above its target. “Ian Bogost is a jerk” is an example of this type, but so is any tweet whose content alone is sufficient to deliver its message, especially when its message is critical or derogatory. This sort of tweet wears its heart on its sleeve, even if it also doesn’t address its target by their handle. And most often, it contains a message addressing and condemning a real or perceived position of power in a way that the subtweet’s whisper cannot muster.

This kind of speech act is an example of apophasis, a rhetorical technique for talking about something without directly mentioning it. In ordinary speech, apophasis can prevaricate, like a subtweet does (“You-know-who is doing you-know-what!”), but most often it is used to distance a speaker from a derogatory or ad hominem statement while nevertheless making it (“I do not know if my opponent in this race is a crook, you will have to make that determination yourself.”).

Given that both the equivocal, indirect tweet (“I see it’s jerk day at The Atlantic”) and the direct kind (“Ian Bogost is a jerk”) are both apophatic in their own way, we need a way to distinguish them. If the first is a subtweet, a speech act that subordinates itself to the original, then perhaps the latter is best named a “supertweet.”

The subtweet is apophatic in the beat-around-the-bush manner. It’s a private whisper shrouded in “I didn’t say anything” innocence. But the supertweet is direct in its apophasis, like the politician’s insult. The subtweet doesn’t want you to know what it’s talking about unless you do already; the supertweet wants its meaning to be clear to everyone, but to feign concealment from its target.