So, the web works on http (and https). When you ask for some content (“make a request”) on the web, the place you asked (“the server”) replies with the best content they can find for what you asked, along with a short code as a hint of what the reply contains (“the response”). You may be familiar with the response code 404, which signifies the thing you asked for could not be found, and the actual reply usually contains a cute error message saying the same thing. You can think of the response content as the part of the response meant for humans, and the response code as the part of the response meant for other computers.
Response code 418 is a joke response code put into the standard (it was an RFC document for the 1St of April for some year). It is meant to signify that the server cannot really fulfill your request, because in reality, you aren’t talking to a real server, but a teapot some nerd managed to hook up to the internet (this was before the era of IoT was upon us and every appliance wanted to be smart and connect to the internet.)
So, it can be viewed as the “sir this is a Wendy’s” joke counterpart of the http response codes.
Me: “Hey computer, go find me the post with most activity in the past 6 hours.” Server response: “error 418. Sir, this is a teapot…”
I should’ve been more specific. I meant, internet of terrible things.
I’m a big fan of small appliances talking to each other and reporting status and being remote controlled, but not in its current commercial form. And yes, ever since we have had networking, we have had nerds attempting to make small devices talk to each other and do useful things remotely.