Teabonics is the name given to the misspellings and odd English phrases that have appeared on protesters' banners in the United States, such as 'Say No to Socilism' and 'Dump the Polititians' (selection here). The word comes from the Tea Party movement, a US protest movement that is opposed to Obama's reforms. The modern name Tea Party is a reference to the 1773 Boston Tea Party, when American colonists protested against taxes imposed by the British. The -bonics part of the word is a reference to Ebonics, the name for African American slang.
More on the story here.
Excellent link, and great blog! the picture gallery is precious...
Teabonics is a great neologism but I feel like pointing out that Ebonics itself has a rather solid grammar... The same can't be said for these freaks... ;)
Posted by: Smuggledwords.wordpress.com | April 10, 2010 at 04:19 AM
It's certainly not slang, although many of its own speakers call it so.
It was widely reported some years ago that Oakland schools were going to teach children in "Ebonics." At that time, no one had ever heard the word, and the dialect was (and is) referred to as "Black English" or AAVE in books.
Because of the resulting firestorm, the word is politically loaded and brings up ugly emotions in some people.
The word "teabonics" is a nice turnaround, considering the content of some of those misspelled signs.
Posted by: Julie | April 10, 2010 at 09:09 AM
Thank you both for your informative comments. Julie, the equivalent of AAVE is BBE over here (British Black English), I think.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | April 10, 2010 at 06:57 PM