A late-night tweet from President Donald Trump has social media trying to find a meaning in the mysterious term "covfefe."
The cryptic tweet, sent at 12:06 a.m. (ET), has since been deleted from the @realDonaldTrump account. But it immediately went viral and became one of the president's more popular posts. Cue the memes and jokes:
If you have a #covfefe, today's a good day to put the top down and drive it! pic.twitter.com/e9GQkdT6Y9
— George Conboy (@gtconboy) May 31, 2017
"And just before you serve it, you hit it with a dash of #Covfefe" pic.twitter.com/fm9CAF4Iyz
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) May 31, 2017
Breaking - our newest destination is sunny #Covfefe! Maybe. pic.twitter.com/i73MIjeJzt
— Air France UK (@AirFranceUK) May 31, 2017
OK, OK, I yield to the inevitable. Word of the day is in fact, "covfefe" - 'a summoning word of fearsome power, never to be used lightly.' pic.twitter.com/PE4Oc4CPS5
— Robert Macfarlane (@RobGMacfarlane) May 31, 2017
My dad just bought the CA license plate "COVFEFE." #covfefe pic.twitter.com/WT5bXDTRN3
— Talya Cooper (@talicoop) May 31, 2017
Some on Twitter speculated that he meant to say "coverage" but mistyped it, while others supplied their own tongue-in-cheek meanings. Dozens of definitions have been submitted the Urban Dictionary website, which crowdsources meanings for slang terms. Dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster checked in with an eye-rolling tweet about people looking up "covfefe" on its website.
Wakes up.
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) May 31, 2017
Checks Twitter.
.
.
.
Uh...
.
.
.
📈 Lookups fo...
.
.
.
Regrets checking Twitter.
Goes back to bed.
The tweet triggered an immediate spike in Google traffic searching for the cryptic term:
On Thursday morning, Mr. Trump poked fun at the covfefe kerfuffle:
Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe" ??? Enjoy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017
The president returned to his normal Twitter routine later in the morning by slamming Democrats over the probe into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election.
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