Damn. My daughter asked us tonight why they are called "teabaggers"

[madinmaryland]

How do you explain that. I just said that is what they called themselves and it just stuck. I sure as hell did not want to go into what teabagging is.

At 13, you never know what they are talking about amongst themselves.

[mrs_p]

1. giggle

[RagAss]

2. Tell her it's because you can fit their brain in a teabag !

[madinmaryland]

Heh! Good one!

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

3. because some of them hung teabags from their hats

[kath]

25. and they also did that "send a teabag to Washington" thing as a protest.

[AC_Mem]

4. How about

because they are nuts in the head?


:)

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. They did not know what it meant either, serious

Taxed Enough Already...

It is an acronym.

[madinmaryland]

6. Well, my wife started to explain the whole tax thing about the "tea partyers"

and my daughter's eyes glazed over. Trying to explain something contradictory to logic is very difficult to explain.

So I went with what the easy explanation!

[LooseWilly]

7. I suggest a turn to the arts to answer her query:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi9hgqZr6fs">A clip from Pecker. Nothing like a little John Waters to answer a child's questions about the world... afterward, a little mention of the Boston Tea Party, and the general idiocy of those who insist on trying to force half-witted symbology on their closed minded opposition to things that they don't understand.. perhaps over a Samuel Adams... ought to do the trick.

Your daughter will have a firmer grasp on sociology and history, and a better taste in beer, within half an hour...

[alittlelark]

8. At 13 she likely knows quite a bit.....

tell her to google it.

[givemebackmycountry]

14. Nah, she don't want to do that. I just did. Maybe with "safe search" on.

This one was pretty funny actually.

[madinmaryland]

23. Exactly. How do you explain that to a 13 year old.

That is too funny!

[madinmaryland]

15. She probably has, and just wanted to see how we would respond.

[alittlelark]

16. I can relate.... I've got young teens myself.

I let them research anything they choose (but both their computers are in the family room)!

They know a lot more than we want to admit!

[dkf]

18. Ooh bad idea.

I googled it early on after Rachel Maddow was chortling about it and it isnt something we encourage 13 year olds to know about.

[Skittles]

9. explain to her

that it is disgusting that these folk hijacked "Tea Party" from the original, LEGITIMATE action in Boston and made a mockery out of it. So we refuse to respect them by saying TEA PARTY and call them Teabaggers to mock them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party

[Ishoutandscream2]

11. Good answer.

[Skittles]

13. thanks!

I simply remember my absolute DISGUST, the first time I heard this new-fangled "Tea Party", knowing it was all corporate-sponsored racist BULLSHIT and had NOTHING in common with what happened back in Boston

[the redcoat]

10. Because when you put them in boiling water, they turn it brown?

Or, you know...that other thing...

[political_Dem]

12. Well, the Teabaggers have delusions that their fight is like the Boston Tea Party.

They fancy themselves "patriots". However, the Teabaggers are misguided in their beliefs when treating people the same and respecting folks who are different in this country. Because they hate others, they do not hold ideals true to America.

(That would be my answer to younger kids without the sexual connotations)

If I were more sardonic, I'd say they prefer White Tea to Black.

[B Calm]

34. but, the Boston Tea Party was about a corporation not paying taxes.

I think these modern day tea parties are a group of dumb asses that don't have a clue to our country's history.

[ZombieHorde]

17. She is 13? If so, you should just tell her the truth.

My daughter is 10; I answer any sex question she asks me.

[Alcibiades]

19. If her friends play HALO

she knows already.

[K8-EEE]

20. Because they hot glue tea bags all over their clothing?

Actually when one of them gets all huffy about that phrase I'm like, "people who glue teabags all over themselves shouldn't be annoyed with being called teabaggers!"

Actually I don't like to equate them with the sex act of the same name because, frankly, they're just not that exciting.

[jmowreader]

21. I know exactly why.

The tea party movement started not with rallies, but with its members mailing teabags to the White House in protest. (This was when we were still under Bush's tax plan, of course.) It was then they called themselves "teabaggers" because they were "teabagging"--something like TPing but with Lipton instead of Charmin--the White House.

When the protests started, they liked to use slogans like "teabag the fools in DC" and "teabag the liberal Democrats before they teabag you."

You can tell your daughter that and be proud she knows why they called themselves teabaggers.

[TheKentuckian]

27. Correct. The proper answer is "Because they are that fucking stupid, baby!"

[KittyWampus]

22. She doesn't know what the Boston Tea Party was? Seriously, that's why the name.

Didn't she take American history?

[Tsiyu]

24. If she's thirteen, she probably already knows

or will find out soon enough.

My angle would have been to explain the history/current reference, and say she might want to use "Tea partiers" instead, when at school or in public.

Some other kid in class might have heard her use the term and said "Heh. She said 'teabagger.'"

Or she heard kids joking and wants to be in on the joke.

I always opted for full, age-appropriate disclosure. 13 is old enough to know about sex, in my parenting book. The other kids think they know all about it, you can bet.


You may have other ideas; only sharing my approach.


Edit to add: Melee. Killing Spr.....

[Zax2me]

26. That's why the nickname is dumb...

and grade school, at best.
They have no sustainable arguments, at least none with any substance, ZERO, that stand up to instant scrutiny.
Their rallies are offensive at best, racist at worst.
Most can't even name their own district reps running.
When confronted they all speak in code, spitting out oft used right wing rhetoric. You can't tell one from the other.
They are about as diverse as a bowl of rice.
And the response is calling them tea baggers?
Geez.
Talk about being throw a softball and freezing up at the plate.
Myself - just shun them. Their shelf life is going to be this one election cycle and by 2012 they will be a distant memory.
The nickname bothers me because they haven't earned anything.
It conjures up sexual visions that aren't in place from a progressive movement that has so much of substance going for it - while we are faced with such a feeble opponent.

[Warren DeMontague]

28. They gave themselves that name, it's their own fucking fault it stuck.

Boo hoo.

[pokerfan]

32. +1,000,000

They even made up buttons and posters before someone clued them in.

[Warren DeMontague]

35. Man, Poppy looks like shit there.

I mean, I know it's not him. But the resemblance is striking.

[FreeState]

29. Because the suck balls!

Couldn't resist, sorry!

[Raine]

30. They take it from the Bostan Tea Party

they picture themselves as some sort of revolutionary patriots. It shouldn't be difficult to explain except they aren't patriots, they're just a bunch of stupid racists to cheap and greedy to pay their taxes. Simple really :shrug:

[jobycom]

31. At 13, she knows what teabagging is. She just wants to know how they are connected.

And maybe to see if you know.

[tavalon]

33. Your daughter is on the internet, yes?

Send her to the urban dictionary. It will be a nice opening for a really good talk.

[era veteran]

36. They stole and co-opted tea party like the Gadsten Flag

Let's not let them steal the election. They are indeed useful 'tools'. Mad, I have boys so I am not sure how to handle your question. Good luck.

[B Calm]

37. Unbelievable how they can change history to fit their agenda