Merriam-Webster Adds 'Sheeple' to Dictionary and Lists Apple Users as Example

[jarman92]

"The phone" (i.e. the Note 7) most certainly does not spontaneously combust (thank you for writing "combust" and not "explode" as most of the media did/does), what the media reported was that a certain small percentage of the phones did combust. How much of this is true, and how much of it is simply media hype and/or people hoping for a fat lawsuit, both you and me have no way of knowing.

Yet, the thesis I put forth -- namely that people who ignore the media and multinational corporations (Samsung, in this case) are not sheep, still stands. These people represent the spirit of the Apple of old (when Apple was known as a computer maker) -- think different!

The specific number is irrelevant to the question of the phone's tendency to spontaneously burst into flame. Sure the media reported on it, but Samsung also freely admitted it and countless tech/review sites confirmed. You can't just toss out empirical evidence of combustion by exploiting the public's skepticism of "the media."

And your final point still makes no sense...these people purchased a phone from Samsung that later proved to have an extremely serious flaw, and refused to return it even after that same manufacturer offered financial incentives, cut its max charge capacity, and finally disabled its ability to operate as a mobile device. And for what purpose, exactly? They certainly aren't "thinking different" because they aren't thinking at all!

 

[Easttime]

It's one thing to get offended, but it's another for the uninformed to read this and then start preaching it to others that are also uninformed. Overall, it's harmful to Apple's brand and the community, without justification.

Agreed. Stereotyping is a potentially harmful shortcut or deliberate strategy to undermine. Not something that I would expect from an objective, intellectual product. Too much stereotyping around these days.

 

[huperniketes]

Totally agree. When did it become ok just to make one word out of two totally unrelated words? This irritates me as much as people combining celebrity names. Shame on you, Merriam-Webster. Or, should we just call you "Mebster?"

It's been almost 150 years since portmanteau was coined (1871); and neologism, related but not synonymous, is even older.

I suspect your hostility towards dictionaries isn't a recent phenomenon either.