We know it’s great that social media has taken off and that memes are amazing, but when people intentionally try to go viral it is an insult to memekind and the Internet.
If you thought Facebook-driven viral fads had reached their lame heights through Planking and then Pillaring (or Vertical Planking, as one reader corrected us), then you may find it confusing that grown people posing like teapots has become a ‘thing’ now. It’s called Teapotting.
The story goes, two Mortlake College teachers wanted to see just how easy it was to start a social media phenomenon so they came up with the brilliant idea of taking a few happy snaps of themselves and their students in teapot poses in various settings around the school and let them loose on Facebook. The “teapotting” page started out with 100 fans on its first day, with the number quickly multiplying to over 2200 currently.
It must have been a slow news week, because Sunrise, Triple J and The Circle covered the new fad, helping it gain publicity it so doesn’t deserve.
One of the teapotting founders, Alison Coate, defend their innovation, saying it’s better than planking because it’s safe, fun and ethically responsible.
“It’s not planking that has ‘killed’ a man — it was drunken stupidity. We stressed to students that there is nothing dangerous about teapotting, it’s just a matter of having fun.”
Had they consulted the Urban Dictionary Coate and her co-teapotters would have discovered that ‘Teapotting’ is also an expression for where a man places his genitals into a teapot filled with warm water (and bubble if you want) – then have your partner blow down the spout of the teapot giving your bits and pieces a nice jacuzzi.
“There is nothing dangerous about teapotting, it’s just a matter of having fun.” – Too right!
Words by Carla Efstratiou
Via Courier Mail
