One of the most fun things you can do on Twitter is engage in the Hashtag Wars. This is a great concept from the Comedy Central show @midnight.
Sometimes the hashtags chosen don't have wide appeal. But occasionally they go completely berserk, such as with the recent hashtag #ShartCelebs. When searching for it I was amazed at just how many people were coming up with funny contributions. I even cranked out a few myself, when usually I just retweet them.
Made me contemplate why this one was so popular ...
Scatology
I think it's because of the universality of the components. Scatological humor works pretty well everywhere, any time because everyone has to go to the toilet, let's face it. And we're all a bit embarrassed about this basic bodily function. So the tension it produces can easily be milked for laughs.
Puerility
Making jokes about bodily functions allows us to relive the intoxicating joy of being a potty-mouthed kid again. Absolutely no one is immune to this temptation.
Celebrity
Then there's the celebrity element. In this media drenched age, we can all rattle off the names of numerous world famous actors, singers, TV hosts, and various other entertainers without much trouble. So it's very easy to come up with ideas for tweets.
Disdain
Then there's the motivation: While many of these famous folk are well loved by fans, they also provoke an equal amount of loathing. We could all name several household names that immediately provoke in us a feeling of utter disdain. And what better way to express this than by associating their names with the act of defecation? Better still, we can get many others to read these bon mots and express their enjoyment of them through retweets, etc.
Basically, the #ShartCelebs hashtag was an excellent way to tell the world these egocentric idiots annoy the crap out of us. It was a perfect shartstorm of democratic derision!
UPDATE: Not sure if this was planned or not, but they've had another shart-themed hashtag war. This time it was #ShartBooks. Again, a huge response.
Not surprisingly there were quite a lot of identical creations. For example, I came up with The Da Vinci Load. Most pleased with myself, I searched to see if anyone else had thought of this. Sure enough, dozens had.
I checked for another one I'd thought of: Crapillon. I thought this would be entirely original. Sadly, not to be. At least one other tweep had pipped me to the post.
Just goes to show there's nothing new under the pun, eh!
Sometimes the hashtags chosen don't have wide appeal. But occasionally they go completely berserk, such as with the recent hashtag #ShartCelebs. When searching for it I was amazed at just how many people were coming up with funny contributions. I even cranked out a few myself, when usually I just retweet them.
Made me contemplate why this one was so popular ...
Scatology
I think it's because of the universality of the components. Scatological humor works pretty well everywhere, any time because everyone has to go to the toilet, let's face it. And we're all a bit embarrassed about this basic bodily function. So the tension it produces can easily be milked for laughs.
Puerility
Making jokes about bodily functions allows us to relive the intoxicating joy of being a potty-mouthed kid again. Absolutely no one is immune to this temptation.
Celebrity
Then there's the celebrity element. In this media drenched age, we can all rattle off the names of numerous world famous actors, singers, TV hosts, and various other entertainers without much trouble. So it's very easy to come up with ideas for tweets.
Disdain
Then there's the motivation: While many of these famous folk are well loved by fans, they also provoke an equal amount of loathing. We could all name several household names that immediately provoke in us a feeling of utter disdain. And what better way to express this than by associating their names with the act of defecation? Better still, we can get many others to read these bon mots and express their enjoyment of them through retweets, etc.
Basically, the #ShartCelebs hashtag was an excellent way to tell the world these egocentric idiots annoy the crap out of us. It was a perfect shartstorm of democratic derision!
UPDATE: Not sure if this was planned or not, but they've had another shart-themed hashtag war. This time it was #ShartBooks. Again, a huge response.
Not surprisingly there were quite a lot of identical creations. For example, I came up with The Da Vinci Load. Most pleased with myself, I searched to see if anyone else had thought of this. Sure enough, dozens had.
I checked for another one I'd thought of: Crapillon. I thought this would be entirely original. Sadly, not to be. At least one other tweep had pipped me to the post.
Just goes to show there's nothing new under the pun, eh!
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