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People are just now finding out that reindeer are real

This isn't a debate, you guys.

 

Samantha Grasso

Internet Culture

Posted on Dec 19, 2016   Updated on May 25, 2021, 8:52 am CDT

You know Dasher, and Dancer, and Prancer, and Vixen—Comet, and Cupid, and Donner, and Blitzen. But can you recall, the most plausible reindeer of all?

Nope, not Rudolph. We’re talking about the real reindeer. Yes, the extremely real, non-magical, tundra-frolicking reindeer that exist on Planet Earth.

In North America, reindeer are commonly referred to as caribou, and reside in Alaska and Canada, with no populations in the continental U.S. This probably explains why many Twitter folks are just now realizing that reindeer are, in fact, real.

This random Twitter search comes courtesy of writer Aaron Cohen in a tweet from nearly half a decade ago.

Yes, yes, the plural of reindeer is actually reindeer, though Dictionary.com finds reindeers permissible for the plural.

Though the original tweet is almost four years old to the day, much has remained the same on the topic of “Reindeer: Fact or Fiction?” Another year, another holiday season during which young and old alike learn, or more likely are reminded, that reindeer and elves do not share the property of mythical creature.

https://twitter.com/RusolYasin/status/806903481714044928

https://twitter.com/danielcorrales/status/809480616039153664

I actually can’t get my head around the fact that reindeers are real????

— emily (@3milyxchubs) December 4, 2016

https://twitter.com/queenbrittxo/status/804520076204503040

I still can’t believe reindeers are real;always presumed they were mythical like unicorns or dragons

— Maia Lowerson (@maialowersonx) November 22, 2016

https://twitter.com/lasusannaaa/status/810495398246752256

For the record, this is not an opinion that is up for debate. The reality of reindeer is a cold, hard fact, despite what any Twitter pollsters allege.

https://twitter.com/gchs_journalism/status/809842392266403840

https://twitter.com/nurmeanslightt/status/788823650103398400

https://twitter.com/megan_amend98/status/809513339797864452

https://twitter.com/msphinguyen/status/809044865480871936

So we can all jump on the “shook” bandwagon with relative ease, but we have somehow taken years to figure this whole reindeer thing out?

https://twitter.com/okayhala/status/809909499859333120

Perhaps unexplainable for the amount of technology we have in the second decade of the 21st century, it would appear a handful of these reindeer truthers are young adults.

https://twitter.com/IzzyLee_/status/809806262649110528

How have I gone 19 years without knowing reindeers are real

— gb (@Georger__) December 12, 2016

https://twitter.com/JodieRobson/status/803581522733395968

Honestly, this is a simple Google search, folks. In case you’re mistaking the Twitter text entry field for a search engine, here is the link: just click this, I beg of you.

Or please, somebody just build us a Twitter bot that responds to the phrase “are reindeer(s) real,” and tweet us our of our misery, already.

https://twitter.com/bethabson/status/805396938032054272

https://twitter.com/dexthcamp/status/804836593991372800

https://twitter.com/JardynMichelle/status/810316384303452160

That’s it—Santa is getting y’all Encyclopedia Britannica online subscriptions for Christmas. Every single last damn one of you.

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*First Published: Dec 19, 2016, 6:56 pm CST