Sweeping the Special Chimney

Sweeping the Special Chimney

Updated Aug 30, 2018 at 03:41PM EDT by Adam.

Added Aug 30, 2018 at 03:00PM EDT by Adam.

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About

Sweeping the Special Chimney is a euphemism for sex coined by Carol Midgley of British publication The Times. After publishing the phrase in an article, it was mocked online.

Origin

On August 29th, 2018, The Times[1] published an article suggesting that couples' sex lives were suffering because of television. In the article, the author, Carol Midgley, used the phrase "sweeping the special chimney" to describe sex. The phrase was used in The Times tweet of the article (shown below).


The Times of London @thetimes Follow) "It's TV that kills your sex life: people who own TV sets are 6 per cent less likely in any given week to "sweep the special chimney" thetimes.co.uk/article/carol- 7:56 AM - 29 Aug 2018

Spread

The tweet was immediately mocked online for the strangeness of the euphemism. Users expressed their disgust at the term; for example, user Ankaman616 gained 20 retweets and 170 likes expressing his displeasure (shown below, left). User @katemond said that the term would confuse future historians, gaining over 30 retweets and 190 likes (shown below, right).


Carl Anka Follow @Ankaman616 "Sweep the special chimney". My heads gone. Sweep. Chimney. The special one. Like with a brush. In a chimney. Nah l'm finished. I'm joining a monastery. Never getting naked again. Sweep. The Special. Chimney. The Times of London@thetimes It's TV that kills your sex life": people who own TV sets are 6 per cent less likely in any given week to "sweep the special chimney" 8:08 AM-29 Aug 2018 Dr Kate Wiles @katemond Follow ) ﹀ Oh God, see what you've done? Because of you, in 150 years, pop- history content writers are unironically going to claim that we all used to actually say thiS. The Times of London@thetimes It's TV that kills your sex life": people who own TV sets are 6 per cent less likely in any given week to "sweep the special chimney" thetimes.co.uk/article/carol-... 8:46 AM-29 Aug 2018

Other users made jokes about the phrase with reaction images and GIFs. A popular strand involved using Dick Van Dyke's chimneysweep character from Mary Poppins_. User @JonYarker made a joke using a GIF of the character, gaining over 40 retweets and 1,200 likes (shown below, left).


Jon Yarker @Jon_Yarker Follow Replying to @thetimes Oi Oi GIF 8:07 AM-29 Aug 2018 Kate E. Jamieson @kateejamieson Follow Replying to @thetimes GIF 9:02 AM-29 Aug 2018

Various Examples


Kenny Stockholm (Off @markalexpreston Follow when she shows you her special chimney 10:20 AM - 29 Aug 2018 Swe himne Special chimney Barry Collins @bazzacollins Follow Also, people who call it "sweep the special chimney" 99% less likely to get laid. The Times of London@thetimes It's TV that kills your sex life": people who own TV sets are 6 per cent less likely in any given week to "sweep the special chimney" thetimes.co.uk/article/carol-. 9:10 AM -29 Aug 2018 Cass @ceebrie Follow ) ﹀ TV can't possibly kill your sex life any quicker than calling it "sweeping the special chimney" would The Times of London@thetimes It's TV that kills your sex life": people who own TV sets are 6 per cent less likely in any given week to "sweep the special chimney" thetimes.co.uk/article/carol-... 9:44 AM-29 Aug 2018 Mike Pullen @MikePullen 1969 Follow "I thought 'Sweeping The Special Chimney was a Fred Dibnah documentary" 8:28 AM- 29 Aug 2018 Mollie Goodfellow @hansmollman Follow ) Sweeping the special chimney like Gul GIF 8:20 AM-29 Aug 2018

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