Wake up, sheeple: Your favorite political insult is now officially a word
Listen up, sheeple — "sheeple" is now officially a word, so sayeth the shade-throwing master Merriam-Webster.
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If you've spent any time online, you know that "sheeple" is the word you use when you want to yell at an otherwise undefined group of people. It is the insult the blogging masses use to call someone a "dummy following a person or ideology without knowing why they're following said person or ideology."
But according to Merriam-Webster, here's the actual definition:
people who are docile, compliant, or easily influenced : people likened to sheep.
On the one hand, what are you doing Merriam-Webster? This is a ridiculous word!
On the other, it's a perfect word for 2017, a year where everyone from all sides of the political spectrum are shouting at each other.
But whether you like the word or not, you can now shout it with authority because the insult is now official. Add it to the books, sheeple!
And it turns out the word is not new. Like other sheeple, including myself, you may have assumed that this word originated when someone on the interwebs mashed "sheep" and "people" together and said, "Aha, I am a word inventor."
But nope. The first known use of "sheeple" came in 1945, when a columnist used it to describe people mindlessly obeying their government.
Turns out sheeple have been around for a lot longer than you think.
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Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
