About

Miriam, Pon La Tetera, or Miriam, Put The Kettle On in English, is a phrase said by Miss Spink in the 2009 stop-motion movie Coraline. The phrase has become a sarcastic expression and image macro on Twitter and TikTok around 2021, often being used as an invitation to gossip with friends.

Origin

On February 6th, 2009, Coraline was released globally. One scene features the main character meeting Miss Spink in the basement apartment she shares with Miss Forcible, and in it, Miss Spink says, "Miriam, put the kettle on." The scene was posted to YouTube^[1] on October 10th, 2020, garnering 35,000 views and 631 likes (seen below).

On December 15th, 2019, a Facebook^[2] page dedicated to sharing clips and scenes from the movie, @CoralineyLaPuertaSecret, uploaded an image macro featuring Miss Spink and the Spanish overlay text "Miriam, pon la tetera." The post (seen below) garnered 2,300 likes and 708 shares in four years.

Spread

On January 9th, 2021, the Spanish dub version of the scene was uploaded on YouTube^[3] by @XnickloX. The video (seen below) garnered 29,900 views and 570 likes in two years.

The expression is often used with content related to gossip. For example, on March 11th, 2023, TikTok^[4] user @jessiparedes posted a picture with a friend and the overlay text "Why do you call each other 'Miriam'?" The video (seen below, left) garnered 5.8 million plays and 722,000 likes in three months. TikToker^[5] @faby.perry2 also mentioned the Coraline phrase in a comedy skit video uploaded on September 30th, 2022. The video (seen below, right) received 443,000 plays and 41,400 likes in a year.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References