I googled that, and it seems to mean something like "Something hidden you can find" which is the same across all other contexts. What exactly is so special about Swift's easter eggs compared to others? It's how everyone else uses them too, like referencing past/future events and so on.
Easter eggs can contain basically anything. In a video game I'd expect an easter egg to be anything from a secret weird level or item, a nod to another game/movie, or a picture of one of the developers' pets. As that bit you quoted from the story was trying to make clear, in the context of Taylor Swift, "easter eggs" are a much more specific and are often hints about what will happen next. This seems like a very reasonable clarification to make, and to my eyes doesn't imply that Swifties invented the term.
> in the context of Taylor Swift, "easter eggs" are a much more specific and are often hints about what will happen next
Right. Do you think they would still be called easter eggs if Taylor Swift didn't just place hints, but also told people about the hints, exactly how to find them and what they meant?
No, of course not. Why would they? It’s not trying to explain what Easter eggs are in general, nor is it acting like Swifties coined the term. The article is trying to explain that in the context of Taylor Swift, easter eggs are usually about upcoming projects or such things.
The article could have said “‘Easter egg’ is a term which means a bit of information or a feature which is left hidden as a surprise for people to find. In the context of Taylor Swift, easter eggs are hidden bits of information which often point at upcoming projects.” That would be overly wordy and unnecessary though because most people already know what Easter eggs are and thus won’t assume it’s claiming that Swifties invented the term.
