Before you ask me to step outside to settle this like men, you should know that I’m apparently a form of “sheeple” too. In fact, nobody is safe. And it’s not Samsung this time around that’s saying it in some sort of clever anti-iPhone ad. No, this time around it’s an English dictionary.
Sheeple is an informal word for “people who are docile, compliant, or easily influenced,” or “people likened to sheep.” That’s how Merriam-Webster explains it online. So far, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Let’s use it in a sentence:
James Nichols, who ran the family farm here, stamped dollar bills with red ink in protest against currency and told his neighbors that they were “sheeple” for obeying authority like livestock.
Nothing wrong there either. But here’s the next sample sentence Merriam-Webster uses to describe sheeple:
Apple’s debuted a battery case for the juice-sucking iPhone—an ungainly lumpy case the sheeple will happily shell out $99 for.
So there you have it, Apple fans. That’s where Apple customers are likened to sheeple. And it’s a dictionary that says it, so apparently it must be true. There’s a name attached to the quote, mind you: Doug Criss. The Register, which first spotted it, says that Criss used this particular line on CNN back in 2015.
