You know you’re doing something wrong, when Merriam-Webster, a dictionary that has been around since 1843, adds a word that has been in recorded use since 1945, and likens it to people who’re using products from a company founded almost 30 years later (spoiler alert, it’s Apple).
That is exactly what happened when Merriam-Webster’s twitter handle announced the addition of “Sheeple” to the dictionary, defining it as “people who are docile, compliant, or easily influenced; people likened to sheep“.
Wake up!
'Sheeple' is in the dictionary now. https://t.co/pbXVADEoBm
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) April 27, 2017
All that is well and good. However, the examples cited by Merriam-Webster are rather hilarious. The dictionary cites “Apple’s debuted a battery case for the juice-sucking iPhone—an ungainly lumpy case the sheeple will happily shell out $99 for.” as one of the examples for the usage of “Sheeple”.
If it’s any comfort, the word falls in the bottom 10% of popularity on the website, so not a lot of people will know that Merriam-Webster calls us Apple users “Sheeple”. You can check out Merriam-Webster’s definition of “Sheeple” on their website.
