Timothy Barton
President, OUP USA
Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016 U.S.A.
Phone: 212-726-6000
Dear Mr. Barton,
I am writing this letter as a formal complaint. It has come to my attention that the New Oxford American Dictionary has defined the term “teabagger” as “a person who protests President Obama’s tax policies and stimulus package, often through local demonstrations known as “Tea Party” protests (in allusion to the Boston Tea Party of 1773).” I believe this definition is in error and must be corrected if the New Oxford American Dictionary is going to continue in the “Oxford Tradition” as the “Definitive Record of the English Language.”
The verb “to teabag” is a sexual act that involves oral stimulation of the male genitalia, the details of which I will not describe here except to say that what one does with a tea bag in a cup of water is highly descriptive. This term was later adopted by participants in multiplayer First Person Shooter games, who would, after defeating an opponent, have their on-screen character kneel over the head of their opponent’s virtual corpse to simulate the sexual act as an act of domination over the vanquished foe. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: media, politics, speech, stupidity, definitions, etymology, obscenity, oxford american dictionary, oxford english dictionary, oxford university press, protest, tea party, teabagger