A midnight tweet from U.S. President Donald Trump has social media trying to find a meaning in the mysterious term “covfefe”. Trump tweeted just after midnight Eastern time (around 9.30 a.m. IST) on Wednesday: “Despite the constant negative press covfefe.”
The tweet immediately went viral and became one of the President’s more popular posts. By 2.40 p.m. IST Trump’s “covfefe” tweet had more than 120,000 retweets and had been shared 39,000 times with #covfefe trending on the popular micro blogging platform, according to Twitter figures.
Then, around 3.15 p.m. IST, more than five hours after it was posted, the mysterious tweet vanished. Soon after Trump himself joined the deciphering game. “Who can figure out the true meaning of “covfefe” ??? Enjoy!” he tweeted, in an unusual display of self-deprecating humour.
Some users sought clarification from dictionary company Merriam-Webster. They did not get a definition but did draw a response.
“Wakes up. Checks Twitter… Uh…. Lookups fo(r)… Regrets checking Twitter. Goes back to bed,” @MerriamWebster wrote after Trump’s first tweet ignited a slew of possible definitions and jokes, as well as defenses of the president.
“Covfefe” also made its way into the Urban Dictionary, a website that collates online word submissions.