Nomi and the Teabag blunder

Okay, so I went and listened to the Stage Right show for the first time last night...of course I say night- it was night time for most listeners, unfortunately I live in Britain and the show was on at five o'clock in the morning- so no sleep. During the interview there was a reference to "tea-bagging" which had me sitting up in disbelief! It was all going so well, one of the more interesting things I'd heard recently- and even though I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the interview it was like a little nagging voice in my ear about this phrase... I wasn't entirely sure I'd heard it right- because I didn't see any reason for it to be thrown around.


The only time I'd heard of tea-bagging was when I used to be a member of the Army Cadet Force (ACF). At the beginning of every camp we went on we would all pile into this room (which was always just a little too small for all of us) and listen to a whole spiel of briefings- one of which was aimed squarely at the boys. Tea-bagging in the ACF was a black bag offence, which essentially meant that your kit would immediately be put into a black bin bag and returned to the ACF- the cadet in question not to return to the ACF ever again- plus, in this case, the police could be involved. Tea-bagging is, according to the Urban dictionary;

"the insertion of one man's sack into another person's mouth. Used a practical joke or prank, when performed on someone who is asleep, or as a sexual act."

So of course you can imagine my shock when the gracious host, Larry O'Connor, made reference to tea-bagging.

During my internet browsing shortly before my writing this very piece, I came across a post by 'Stage Right' on Big Hollywood in which a very different Tea Bag was discussed- a weight off of my shoulders I can tell you! I had thought I was going mad.

the 'real' Tea bag (I assume...)



This whole escapade has left me thinking about all the little bits of common lexis we use in our day to day life, and how easy it is to get completely the wrong idea through fault of neither party. So, I urge anyone who has taken offence at something they've heard said- please research it thoroughly before you come to a firm conclusion- it may not be so!



Written badly by Naomi Wong