The Teabaggers seem to be having a problem with the term that they coined to describe their conservative protest movement. Somewhere along the line they seem to have learned the slang definition for “teabagging” and are now going on the attack against the use of this term, that even their compatriots in America’s usually loony right wing (see the National Review Online article), acknowledge to be one that they themselves coined for their movement.
Comedian Andy Cobb talks about the term in this video:
hat tip to America Blog
They were a little slow to read the urban dictionary.
Heh…you’d think someone would have Googled it before they started using the term.
They may have used the same term but were not immediately aware of the sexual reference. Clearly their detractors like Maddow used the term knowing full well the negative sexual connotation.
And this from the guy who’s hyper-sensitive about “Democrat” vs. “Democratic.”
It isn’t my problem that the teabaggers are so sexually immature and out of it that they don’t understand alternative meanings for this term that they coined to describe their movement. One of the first things you learn in branding is to evaluate whether your brand has negative connotations. If they failed this test, or more likely willingly knew exactly what they were doing with their tea bag reference then that’s their problem.
So you’re sexually immature if you didn’t know what that term meant? Pu-leeze. That’s a really stupid comment to make.
I think the exact opposite is much closer to the truth. You’re displaying the maturity of a teenager to use it. Reminds me of something Beavis & Butthead would say. Huh-huh. Huh-huh. He said Teabag. Heh-heh. Beavis pull my finger.
Knowing the lastest crude slang for sexual practices doesn’t make one sexually immature. Maybe it means they’re not hanging out in the gutter. I’m sure you feel hip and worldly and superior, but the ones who use it to mock them are the immature ones.
Your comment about branding would make sense if it were a business marketing a new product, but this was a series of movements that popped up all over and the first thing they did was drop off teabags, thinking of the Boston Tea Party, not something out of a porn movie.
And anyway, you are just using this as a focus to detract away from the message of a call for limited government. But then the promise of cradle to grave benefits worked out so well in Greece, didn’t it?
But if we are going to put stock into the Urban Dictionary, I note the definition of a “liberal”
“Essentially, a gay hippie.”
oh, the immature fun you could have with that.
Heh….there’s a lot in the Urban Dictionary that could be used to have some fun with.
Even if you don’t know the term it still sounds derogatory, in my opinion, so I’m sure many of the people using it as an insult don’t know the slang meaning either. I personally avoid terms like that.
I think it’s important to know that many of us have friends or relatives who in private are openly bigoted, so it’s easy to imagine a “Tea Party” crawling with people like that. Couple that with the people we know who do nothing but repeat the far-right sound bites like “socialism” and “Obama isn’t a USA citizen” or “they nationalized health care” and it’s easy to make many assumptions about the members of the Tea Party movement.
I’m sure there are many fiscal conservatives who want a voice, but as long as the bigots fly under the banner of social conservatism (a term that’s been hijacked to the point of non-descriptiveness in my opinion) the more moderate people are going to be drowned out. I’m not saying I like the inflammatory “teabagger” rhetoric but I at least understand why people do it, even if I never would.
I’m not a member of any of the organizations – though I do support some…maybe even majority of their issues. That said, I think the term is crude and classless and whether some of the people used the term for themselves (maybe before they knew of the other meaning) or not doesn’t make it’s usage any less tasteless.
I use the word “teabagger” and the sexual reference doesn’t cross my mind when I use it. If other people think it that’s their problem…IMO.
I used have used that answer when you accused me of being sexist. I’m not one and it didn’t cross my mind when I used it, so if you thought so, that’s your problem.
And to quote you Anon, “I don’t believe for one second you didn’t think the use of the word” as a sexual reference doesn’t cross your mind when you use it.
IMO.
And…you know what forgot? I’m perfectly fine with that…we are all entitled to our opinions.
For what it’s worth, I was well aware of the alternative definition of teabagger when the folks in the Tea Party movement started using it to refer to themselves, and while I’ve used the term on occasion, I’ve never meant it in the derogatory way.
Teabagger simply works better than “one who associates with the Tea Party.”
Um, or “Tea Partier”
And Tea Partier brings to mind Mad Hatters and March Hares…
The word “democratic” brings to mind individual freedom and the will of the people, but I don’t think of those things when someone mentions the Democratic Party.
“Teabagger simply works better than “one who associates with the Tea Party.””
I agree.
Those aren’t the only two options. Surely you can be more creative than that.
I probably could be more creative but that doesn’t mean you’d like it better than teabagger. Teabagger works for me…and you can use whatever word works for you.