Teabonics

Teabonics

Part of a series on Tea Party Protests. [View Related Entries]

Updated Aug 11, 2015 at 02:37AM EDT by Brad.

Added Aug 12, 2010 at 11:17AM EDT by Doc.

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IF YOU CANSA THIS SIGN E AD ID NT SERVE YEARS FOR SOCIALISM NOT AGE OF CRESTwoot LISH IS OUR ANGUAGE THELE EXCETIONS EARN IT OR CHESTER STRANGZE Keep The lea LI ER I-N CHTEF LIVES

About

Teabonics refers to spelling and grammatical errors associated with members of the Tea Party movement, particularly the picket signs displayed during various Tea Party demonstrations.

Origin

The American conservative / libertarian populist political movement known as the Tea Party began holding demonstrations as early as March 6th, 2009.[1] On March 28th, 2010, Flickr user Pargon[2] uploaded a set of photos under the tag "Teabonics." The photos featured signs and banners with incorrect spelling and grammar from various Tea Party protests around the country, and were accompanied by the following description:

These are signs seen primarily at Tea Party Protests.

They all feature "creative" spelling or grammar.

This new dialect of the English language shall be known as "Teabonics."

Spread

Much of the initial spread occurred on March 30th, 2011 after the Flickr page was posted to the Balloon Juice[3] blog. The single topic blog Tea Bag Fail[5], and the first Urban Dictionary[4] submission were created the same day. The political blog Little Green Footballs[6] began featuring a teabonics "sign of the day" on April 9th, 2010. Pargon's Flickr page has been featured in The New York Daily News[7], Seattle Weekly[8], The Guardian[9], Boing Boing[10] and Gawker.[11] A Facebook[15] fan page has accumulated 847 likes, and the original Flickr set has received over 1 million views as of October 12th, 2011.

Notable Images


VILLAGE OF CRESTWOOD ENGLISH IS OUR LANGUAGE NO EXCETIONS LEARN IT MAYOR CHESTER STRANCZEK 1 mpea Obama Secialism IS NO T the nswer l! and eur onl Make E nglish mericas offical Language

Pargon's Reaction

Pargon has commented on the spread of Teabonics, clarifying how it began and spread so rapidly.

The first indication I got that this was gonna be big came the afternoon of Tuesday, March 30 when I started to get emails from Flickr that people were following me. Just a few, then more and more. I also received a direct message from a Flickr user letting me know they found my Teabonics collection because of a posting on Bob Cesca’s blog. Bob Cesca attributed this to John Cole, who linked to the Flickr collection on the Balloon Juice blog[3], which, as far as I know, is the first source of publicity.

It was even a trending Twitter topic for awhile. (Even Roger Ebert tweeted about it, which made my day!)
Within a couple days I had received a number of solicitations from literary agents asking if I’d be interested in turning the set into a book. (As I said, I didn’t shoot the photos, so I certainly wasn’t going to try and profit from someone else’s work or let it be falsely attributed.)

It was by no means expected or even hoped for, but was awesome to see nonetheless.

Controversy

The images became controversial among Tea Party members, who claimed that a few signs with misspelled words painted an over-generalized picture that the protesters were uneducated and clueless. They pointed out that many of the signs were being carried by children or senior citizens, who may have had a harder time spelling. They also responded with several images of pro-Obama and teachers union rallies featuring grammatically incorrect signs. Many Tea Party candidates and leaders, including radio host Rush Limbaugh[16], claimed that the rallies were being infiltrated by Democrats with misspelled and racist signs, in an attempt to make the movement look bad.

#Shakespalin

On July 18th, 2010, Tea Party member and former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin tweeted a comment regarding a planned Cordoba House project, also known as the "Ground Zero Mosque", in New York City. Followers began to notice that Palin had invented the word "refudiate" in the tweet, for which there was no known definition. The tweet was quickly taken down, but screenshots of the tweet were subsequently posted on various sites around the web. The next day, Palin sent out another tweet embracing the newly coined word, going as far as to compare herself to William Shakespeare.



Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn't it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate 13 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry Retweeted by 5 people Reply Retweet SarahPalinUSA Sarah Palin "Refudiate," "misunderestimate," "wee-wee'd up."English is a living words too. Got to celebrate it! about 18 hours ago via web Retweeted by 100+people Reply Retweet SarahPalinUSA Sarah Palin

This inspired the creation of a new hashtag on Twitter, #shakespalin, #bardofwasilla and #cariboubardbie that would take famous quotes from Shakespeare's plays and comedically intertwine them with quotes from Sarah Palin or comments on her personality. The refudiate controversy and #shakespalin were featured on various sites including Huffington Post[17], The Washington Times[18], The New Yorker[19], The New York Times[20], and Pundit Kitchen.[21] On November 15th, 2010 "refudiate" was named one of Oxford English Dictionary’s 'Top Words of 2010'.[22]


freehawk But soft, what light from yonder window breaks? It is the East, and I can see Russia from my front porch. #bardofwasilla #shakespalin 10:38 AM Jul 19th via web Top Tweet 1100+ Retweets COLLECE Tom Borthwick A clue! My kingdom for a clue! #shakespalin less than 20 seconds ago via TweetDeck normative To suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous liberals, or to quit halfterm, and by opposing, rake in speaking fees #shakespalin 7:44 PM Jul 18th via Twittelator Top Tweet 13100+ Retweets unsettler A poor player that struts and frets her hour upon the stage, then is heard again and again in lucrative speaking gigs. #shakespalin 1 minute ago via HootSuite

Videos





Search queries for "teabonics" spiked in April of 2010, the month after Pargon's Flickr page was created.

External References

[1] Deseret News – Anti tax and spend group throws tea party

[2] Flickr – Pargon

[3] Balloon Juice – Teabonics Open Thread

[4] Urban Dictionary – teabonics

[5] Tea Bag Fail – Tea Bag Fails

[6] Little Green Footballs – Teabonics Sign of the Day

[7] NY Daily News – Teabonics the Flawed Language of Protest

[8] Seattle Weekly – Funniest Teabonics Signs

[9] The Guardian – Teabonics Tea Party Protest Signs

[10] Boing Boing – Teabonics

[11] Gawker – The Illustrated Tea Party Dictionary

[12] Wonkette – The Teabonics Flickr Thing is Funny

[13] Joe My God – Teabonics

[14] The Daily Dish – #shakespalin, Ctd

[15] Facebook – Teabonics

[16] Rush Limbaugh – Democrats Infiltrate Tea Parties, Seek Imposters to Pose as Racists

[17] The Huffington Post – Sarah Palin Refudiate

[18] The Washington Times – Palin Invents Words

[19] The New Yorker – Meme Watch Shakespalin

[20] The New York Times – Shakespalin

[21] Pundit Kitchen – Political Pictures Shakespalin

[22] Oxford University Press Blog – OUP USA 2010 Word of the Year: Refudiate

Recent Videos 4 total

Recent Images 59 total



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