Merriam-Webster Dictionary Is a Fan of Critical Role

By Christian Hoffer

Critical Role got a surprising shout-out from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Earlier this week, Merriam-Webster's Twitter account announced that 455 words and phrase were added to its dictionary, reflecting the ever-evolving use of everyday vernacular. These words and phrases range from "dad bod" to "super-spreader," and mostly reflect popular phrases and words that have popped up over the last few months. Merriam-Webster also added several new food-related words and phrases to its dictionary, including "fluffernutter," which is officially described as "a sandwich made with peanut butter and marshmallow crème between two slices of white sandwich bread." However, when announcing the addition on Twitter, Merriam-Webster used a rather surprising gif, which can be seen below. 

That is indeed a gif from Critical Role, showing cast member Laura Bailey shouting "Fluffernutter" while Sam Riegel shoots a crossbow (while covered in a green facepaint due to an advertising bit done at the top of the show.) The gif comes from Episode 39 of Campaign 2 and refers to an attempted maneuver by Bailey's character Jester and Riegel's character Nott the Brave, in which Jester chucked a keg of gunpowder at an enemy while shouting "Fluffernutter," after which Nott would shoot the keg with a crossbow causing it to explode. Ironically, the "Fluffernutter" gambit failed in Episode 39, but Liam O'Brien's character Caleb would later successfully complete a Fluffernutter combo using a Scorching Ray spell. At no point during any use of the "Fluffernutter" combo is an actual fluffernutter sandwich seen or used. 

Critical Role is a D&D actualplay show featuring a group of voice actors playing through elaborate homebrew campaigns. The show is credited as one of the reasons for Dungeons & Dragons' recent mainstream success and is widely considered to be one of the most successful "let's play" tabletop livestreams. Over the past several years, Critical Role has grown into a full-fledged media empire. In addition to its weekly programming on Twitch, Critical Role is also developing an animated series for Amazon Prime and has a large merchandise line that includes everything from comics published by Dark Horse to Funko POP! figures to young adult novels. Critical Role also recently launched its own tabletop publishing house. The series also has an active partnership with D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast, with two official D&D books taking place inside Critical Role's Exandria setting. Critical Role is also publishing their own D&D sourcebook Tal'Dorei Reborn, next year.  

Critical Role posts VOD of their most recent episode every Monday and also releases a podcast version of episodes every Thursday. You can also watch Critical Role episodes live on Thursday at 7 PM PT on their Twitch channel.  

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