Definition: "A small figure used as a playing piece in certain board games, having a stylized human form." (Oxford English Dictionary)
Sample usage: "Ah, it's just another boring meeting with the assistant regional manager and a bunch of meeples from accounting."
Popularity: It has competition. There's Miipeople, which comes from the little animated self-representations you could make on the Wii. Whatever currency that term had, however, has vanished as the Wii's place in popular culture faded. "Meeple" reminds you of that awful word "sheeple," used to describe anyone else who doesn't believe what you believe, but it's not as derisive. It sounds like a twittering clutch of vain, insignificant people.
Chance of catching on: Use the word if you wish, but realize this: We're all Meeple in someone else's eyes.
JAMES LILEKS
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