The word "sheeple" is now in the dictionary, with Apple fans as example

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Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/05/02/the-word-sheeple-is-now-in.html

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Thanks, Merriam-Webster, for giving trolls a permanent voice in the dictionary.

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I suppose if evoking it incessantly didn’t work to summon them, inscribing it in our ancient tomes of knowledge is the logical next step…

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And, of course, everyone but yourself is a… What’s the singular for “sheeple?” “Sherson” just doesn’t sound right…

This was supposed to be a lead-in to post the other relevant xkcd, but now I’m actually curious what the singular form would be.

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Sheeple?
A sheep, some sheep, a sheeple, some sheeple?

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That just doesn’t seem aesthetically satisfying to me.

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I think it works better for me as the counters used in some games like Carcassonne are called “meeples” so you can ask “where’s my meeple?” and it wouldn’t sound odd. Using it for plural would though.

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Cabron?

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Yo don’t blame people who write dictionaries, they record modern usage, they don’t make it.

(Also you should really check out Helen Zaltzman’s latest Allusionist episode, cuz it deals with this directly.)

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“Sheeple” can be a very useful word once you understand that it’s used by sophomoric scare-mongering alt-facters (Both right and left) as a weak insult and insinuation that the recipient is incapable of thinking for themselves.

Treat this word as a channel marker in polite society: Recognize it when you see it as proclaiming “Dangerous waters ahead.”

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Isn’t it a group effect by definition?

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And not meaning to get too deep into Apple-wrath as a subject, but that’s a pretty lightweight and disposable piece of journalism to choose to immortalize as THE usage example for the ages.

The quoted sentence is actually the entirety of what the author bothered to express on the subject, buried deep in a flavor-of-the-day listicle. Not saying it has to be Shakespeare or nothing, but you know.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/09/us/new-day-five-things/

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So is a riot, but we still have a term for an individual rioter. So, “people affected by groupthink” is to “sheeple” as “person affected by groupthink” is to…?

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Sheeplon? Sheeplum? Sheeplo?

Lamb-chop?

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Sheeplet?

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At this point, unless they’re using it ironically, I view it as a strong indicator that the person has nothing to say and is, ironically, parroting their chosen crowd’s position.

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Machead?

I ked, I ked!

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I thought the proper term was “Apple fan-boy.”

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As an iPhone user, I hope the next one is even thinner so that I can attach a bigger battery pack.

The whole industry obsession with phone thinness at the expense of usability is distressing. There should be more user advocates and less marketing staff in tech companies.

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