About

#AddAWord is a type of hashtag-based word games in which an extraneous word must be added into the title of a famous book, film or song to make it sound irreverent or humorously out of its original context.

Origin

On October 4th, 2013, Twitter user Joel Watson posted a tweet with the hashtag #AddaWordRuinaMovie, accompanied by the altered film title "Sexual Assault on Precinct 13."

Precursor

Long before the arrival of the hashtag games, there have been numerous internet memes that parody the titles of popular films by either replacing, adding or removing one letter from their original titles, most notably Anagrammed Movie Posters and One Letter Off Movie Posters on Something Awful.

Spread

The same day, Twitter user Colleen Hawkings posted an #AddAWordRuinAMovie tweet for "Finding Nemo Dead," which gathered more than 145 retweets and 120 favorites.

On October 5th, 2013, the news site Epoch Times^[1] highlighted notable examples tweets from the series, including several photoshopped movie posters by Twitter user @darth^[2] (shown below).

On October 7th, the hashtag #AddaWordRuinaChristianBook began circulating on Twitter, containing titles of Christian-themed books with an added word to change its original meaning.

On March 24th, 2014, the hashtag game #RuinaChildrensBook, which involves adding to the title of a classic children’s book to make it sound unpleasant or distasteful, was launched during the "#HashtagWars" segment of the Comedy Central late night show @midnight (shown below).

On May 5th, @midnight broadcast a new segment of #HashtagWars, in which contestants drafted examples of tweets for the hashtag "#RuinARapTrack" featuring rap lyrics with added phrases meant to ruin the original meaning (shown below).

Search Interest

External References