E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Every old joke is new again. Even though this picture is dated July 2010, it gained fresh Twitter popularity on Tuesday.
Immediately following news of a moderate earthquake in Virginia that was felt in Washington D.C., New York City and as far south as Chapel Hill, N.C., aftershocks — of sorts — rippled across the Internet. Many turned to the U.S. first-alert system by default — Twitter — to find and share news of damage in our nation's capital, travel delays and how much they did (or didn't) feel the earth shake.
Even more jumped online to mock panic, make witty reference of eschatological beliefs of a cataclysmic event in 2012/and or that one John Cusack movie, sarcastically mourn the reported split of Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith, insult your political leanings, mock death and take advantage of ample opportunity for appending "that's what she said" on pretty much everything. And as is, I believe, required by law, the D.C. Earthquake now has its own Twitter account.
That was fast.
No less than eight tongue-in-cheek groups named around various versions of "I survived the Aug. 23 earthquake" popped up on Facebook, the most popular heading toward 1,800 "Likes" at the time of this post. A photo of the "D.C. devastation" on jmckinley's posterous blog post of July 2010 — a set of plastic lawn furniture with one toppled chair — became the popular photo link to retweet on Tuesday, quickly inspiring a photo meme of more earthquake non-devastation.
Even as nail-biting reports about Virginia nuclear plants that shut down circulated in the news, Foursquare tips on the new check-in "location" — Earthquakepcolypse — piled in by the thousands. (My fav, courtesy Matt S of Livingston, NJ: "Try the pie. It's delightful.")
Nothing inspires the humor center of the brain like the false sense of security that follows a quick reminder that Nature can kick your insignificant arse at anytime, only this time, it didn't. Observe.
@amorrissey: protip: someone's already made that #earthquake joke you're crafting.
@TheEricPatrick: You see that Will and Jada. You're the glue that's holding this country together! #earthquake
@yeltup2: 5.8 earthquake ...that's kind of big right? Oh oh THATS WHAT SHE SAID!
@darthwiggie Too many opportunities to add "that's what she said" with some of these #earthquake tweets. :-)
On mocking your Twitter use:
@zarchasmpgmr Friends in the NE — check your loved ones, get out of masonry buildings, look for danger, then post to Twitter. That's the correct order.
@villagevoice How are people going to tweet earthquake jokes if their cell phones aren't working?
On mocking your overreaction:
@maximosis MARTIAL LAW TO BE PUT INTO PLAY IN 26 MINUTES!! #EARTHQUAKE2011
@FINALLEVEL As long as everyone's ok...... Keep it moovin.. The EARTH is gonna do whatever the f*** it wants to do.
@dylanmatt: "In retrospect, I resorted to cannibalism rather fast after the earthquake."
@d44pan: If you don't go back to shopping then the earthquakes have already won.
On mocking your beliefs:
@mike_walsh: That was not an earthquake.. It was our nation's founders rolling over
@politicoroger: “We wouldn’t be having earthquakes like this if Hillary were president.”
@ArmisteadMaupin: Earthquake in DC? Stand by for Biblical explanation from Pat Robertson
On mocking New Yorkers:
@veronacodex: Not to be mean to people who just had a scare but tagging #nycearthquake on an earthquake 317 miles from NYC is the most New York thing ever
@jdickerson: Everyone calm down. If this is an earthquake on the east coast we’re supposed to react ironically.”
@katz: "I felt that earthquake last week" - Brooklyn hipster
On mocking the earthquake:
@TimDuffy My favorite part was when we stopped working for a few minutes to talk about the earthquake. #nostalgia
@baratunde: this #earthquake story is so over. can we talk about actual current events now?
@elizapi:Earthquake. Lolz. Thought I'd join in even if I'm nowhere near the east coast. It's the cool thing to do.
@hodgman: This guy in the cafe and I agree that we liked the earthquake when it first started. But now it's like, the wrong people are into it.
@dogboner: i hope ja rule is okay
Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about the Internet. Tell her to get a real job on Twitter and/or Facebook. Also, Google+.
Leave a Comment:
I feel so left out. There was no earthquakeluv here in Florida.
*sadface*
what? no video :-)
Go ahead. Make fun of this all you want.
The picture at the top of the article with the fallen chair is very significant.
This is the very table where the famour "Beer Summit" was held at the White House.
Official estimates of the damage from that fallen chair is approximately $2.4 TRILLION Dollars. Funny, the same amount as the debt ceiling was increased.
I guess it's good we did raise it after all.
It wasn't an earthquake.Chuck Norris farted.
It's a good thing Chuck Norris has all that Era laundry detergent then!!! He might have some racing stripes in his undies!!! LOL
It was a solar flare that triggered this...I heard it... more to come in 2012. hold on to your butts... mayans are smart...8-23-11 to 12-12-12 tick tick tick tick ////today was day 500...... 499 more days left....:)
everyone who only associates the earthquake with dc, they felt 5.3, baltimore and areas surrounding, like where i am at, felt the full 5.8. the last strongest one, and only 1 i personally thought i would ever feel as long as i lived where im at esp in md, was 7 years ago. today was different. ull have a different outlook on the whole situation if u watched ur tv and dresser start moving (when the earthquake was 1st happened) to what seems so long, of glass bouncing off my skin because for the 1st and maybe only time, having no choice than to do what u were told to do in an earthquake. after the glass was done breaking having to remember where ur suppose to go: doorframe or under desk/table. then be a parent of child who is at school for the 1st day and cant get to see if their ok quick enough. then, to all of u who have nothing better to do than talk about and mock this earthquake, feel the gratitude i feel and the anger i feel. grateful that people werent hurt (for everyone) and angry, no furious, that my 7 yr old never was told in the school u were taught, shown, and did practices along with the fire drills, what the hell to do IF AN EARTHQUAKE OCCURS. mothernature is unpredictable and sometimes, yes, sometimes might move under you. everything in anne arundel n howard counties (in md not dc) having to do with schools was cancelled IMMEDIATELY (dc didnt) until all the buildings are done being inspected. ur taught in school what to do in those just in cases. just as i had to stand outside forever during fire drills, i had to sit under my desk and was also told many times, in my elementery days, what to do if u dont have a table to duck under or a doorway near u. when my daughter told me she had never been told, let alone be shown, what to do, or my bro girl saying she didnt know what she was suppose to do and her being a daycare provider, sent anger through me i never felt. i have gratitude in my anger that the school, right across the street from u, was closed. so to the mockers, look at the bigger picture in this whole earthquake...how it was handled. baltimore, which did feel the full magnitude, was calm compare to the unorganized chaos in dc. i know that tomorrow morning i will walk my daughter in school, then as calmly as i can, find out why the hundreds of children, just in her school, have never been TOLD let alone SHOWN what to do in that just in case. it was scary when it was happening but i see the bigger effect...mothernature reminded a lot of people that she controls the uncontrollable. so til u mockers of the whole effect of this earthquake, saw what i saw or felt what i, and alot of others too, felt and feel the gratitude i feel (i.e. no bridges collapsing, houses destroyed, or anyone i loved or knew killed) then ull being feeling dumber than dc does right now. remember mothernature is always under u and she doesnt warn when she moves her parts
Jessica,
If you were here I would give you a big hug.
Don't worry the week hasn't ended yet Irene might push you out of bed
So so hypocritical to not allow use of vulgarity on msn comment sites, then quote one in a piece.
That picture of the fallen chair came out last year after Hurricane Earl bombed out here in New England!! I've also seen parts of the south close down for a week after 4 inches of snow and they make a big deal of it on the news! so we have a right to make a big deal out of a 5.8 earth quake!!
terrible article, you act like you are smarter than everyone by mocking twitter. you are by far thee dumbest person by falling into it, and writing an article on it. brutal article, bout time you look in the mirror and say what the hell am I doing writing articles on earthquakes followed by twitter quotes? I remember when people used to write good articles on things that mattered. this dosn't contain either.
Cheers!
-Hater
Cannibalism...I about peed my pants! That was exactly what I needed tonight, laugh out loud smart aleck humour, thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This made me laugh. It is funny. Also some of the comments that people made about it...
i agree!
I survived the 5.8 D.C. earthquake. I thought it was the debt ceiling falling!
Sissies. We have about 5000 of them a week here in California and nobody even looks up from the supper table.
ok 1852.
It's true...but you're wimps about a bit of rain and any temp below 65...
I don't live in California! Feeling a little scared is valid once a century!
Haha I cant believe the media coverage this is getting... In Seattle this would barely make the local news.
Craigbell...nobody's freaked out, we just enjoy talking about it. Better than talking about the insane lady from California who just hucked her poor baby off a 2nd level garage.
I don't live in Seattle either- and, jen31, good point!
At the risk of being insensitive, perhaps you need to buy real furniture. Go to walmart, where civilizations shop.
@AP-1414066,
That just proves how much you know about California. California extends, oh, about 700 miles north past Hollywood. Parts of Northern Cali get over 100 inches of rain in the year (and severe earthquakes) and others have temps below zero in the winter. Hard to believe, huh. (If you failed geography in high school)
LOL @ CraigBell-254... {too funny}...
just like NY says when it snows here in VA...we act like its a big deal :-)...
well this was right much excitement for us out here on the East Coast
haha well when your capital is evacuated an tremors could be felt as far up as boston id say its significant, we had roofs collapsing left and rt this winter, and record cumulative snowfall but you didnt hear us btch, so please let us new engladers/east coasters fear the unknown at our own respects thnx ;) and aside from Arizona being beach front propertys soon, we didnt build our infastructure to withstand a 5.9 let alone earthquakes as well as CA so, we'll wory about freezing to death you worry about the san andreas fault kk
The problem with all the east coasters that are having a blast talking about this and "mocking" the Californians for an array of things is... Have ya EVER looked at a topographical map? HELLO! There are mountains and SNOW and freezing temperatures in Cali. Grow up people! Californians deal with it all. Rain, mudslides, tidal waves and major storms that knock down parts of the beach piers, earthquakes, snow, illegals and freezing temps.
I love how you slipped in illegals between snow and freezing temps. LOL
BTW you don't actually HAVE to "deal" with ANY of those conditions...there are 49 other states besides California.
Wasn't that picture from the 2-3 mag earthquake last year here in DC?
Kind of a waste of an article if the pics are recycled.
Thx,
Jay!
You know, if you would have actually read the article, it was stated early on that this pic was used before and was being used again today as a joke. It is pretty damned funny actually if you think about it. Well played by the user I say.
wow Craig. get out much?
The jmickinley post was from JULY 16, 2010. Pretty lame to use old crap.
we MUST, by all means, mock the media! their over reaction and breathless all day Breaking News is was the word absurd was created for!
Why does the T-Mobile girl stand with her arm-pits facing outward?
HA! I've always thought the same thing. I wish I could like this comment 100 times.
Doesn't really matter because she is pretty hot. Maybe t mobile should do an ad with her completely naked, then we would have something to really talk about.
bryan- gross ppl like u need help
and ive never noticed what exacctly was wrong about her until u mentioned that haha!
Why am I gross and need help just because I would like to see that t mobile model naked? It's fairly obvious who actually needs the help there ananymous---you do.
oh, come on guys. chill out.
i mean, why are we even talking about the t.mobile girl??
Just remember, be it as may,,It,s not nice to make fun of Mother Nature
That was an Earthquake?....oh dear.. I thought it was just my girlfriend farting!!
Hmmm, That's pretty freeking nasty there Dave..... LOL!!!
Yes...that picture of the plastic lawn chairs is an old 2010 photo of a previous earthquake......which was almost not even felt. This one was what? Twice as big and there really was some damage in and around DC. The news hasn't stopped on our local channels in DC since 2pm....it's 7:15pm now and they're STILL talking about it.
Imagine the news if it was serious earthquake! Also I think you meant "damage". ;)
Yeah, this was at least a 2 lawn chair earthquake!
stop complaining people from cali and the west coast! seriously u dont have that big of earthquakes the last big was was in 99' and that was a 7.0 and sense then no big ones exept a lot around the size of this one so get over yourself and stop asking for pitty!! move if ur always complaining about it!!!!
We don't have big earthquakes on the west coast??? Wow!!! Just big enough to topple buildings in Northridge, bring down entire strands of the Bay Bridge, collapse the entire Cyprus Structure and bring San Francisco to ashes. Oh yeah but it only happens every ten years! You're absoulutely right, therefore the other hundreds of 5.whatevers that happen annually we just smile and enjoy the ride. Quit crying until your removing people from rubble for weeks at a time. Or maybe we should cry the next time the winds are blowing 60mph and think we're having a true east coast hurricane. Good luck with logic 101 when you get to JuCo!
I thought the 4 train was passing by underground, we ALWAYS feel that in NYC. Some folks in Midtown did kinda overreact. *smh, moving on*
I thought the neighbors were "doing it" again, I thought he had finally rocked her world and mine.
Â
lol, we must live in the same neighborhood!!!
hate to say this but this is in very poor taste, we are joking about something that could have been very devistating, and yes I live in the dc area. would you be joking like this if half the city was burning, or lives were lost, come on people we should be very thankful it was not worse not sit here and joke so much about it
We could sit here and what if all day long. I agree that if half of DC were burning, you would know the reaction. If you do not, I would like to remind you of the 9-11 post actions by the country. However, point and case is that it is not burning. None that I have heard of have been hurt, just a few loose bricks. So we are going to joke cause that is how a bunch of us show our release of nerves.
I decided it was OK to Joke when you think of New Zealand and Japan this was a pretty nothing earthquake on my Richter scale.
"shoulduh, coulduh, woulduh!" But it wasn't.
I would be laughing my a$$ off if D.C. were burning, seriously, what's the difference, it's already a total waste hole anyways. BURN, D.C., BURN!!!!!
You are correct but we to tend to be a bit "on our toes" with planes crashing into buildings and fields. I suppose I tend to be overly "aware" of unexplained and uncommon noises living close to the Nation's Capital - earthquakes are less prevalent than terrorist activities.
If it was actually serious....not like the media was over-exaggerating AGAIN, then it would be thought of as serious. But this.....this is like when there is a single snowflake in the forecast for Kentucky so The whole state shuts down school for the day. The media is pretty pathetic....and so is anyone else who freaks out over something so minor. Let's save the hysterics for the real stuff.
Where were you when "the real stuff" took place? I was in the Capital. I was here for the Sniper - Aspen Hill - 10 min. prior to the 1st shooting. I'm not 'freaking out", but as the actual event takes place, it has a post-tramautic response.
Please, 5.8? Even the dogs here in Alaska continue peeing on the fencepost at that. I have a certain year for you: 1964. Look it up.
Draco, you know that it's not nice to talk about your women folk like that just because they're from Alaska.
Ha- boy you just keep thinking that way! You apparently haven't been to Alaska! And yep - don't pay much attention to the quakes there too much. They happen so often you think you're just a bit "dizzy" -- or maybe "tipsy"?
sorry - that was directed to bryon not you draco.
@mareelue2, correct you are, I have never been to Alaska. Truth be told, it is one of a handful of places that I would truly love to visit. And I wasn't being mean so much as I was trying to be funny, and I think that it was actually quite funny if you think about it. Some where there is a Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On.....
If a earth quake happens in Virginia does anyone care?
Not as long as it fits in the budget.
Seriously -
Hey DC stop trying to steal the earthquake it doesn't belong to you, its Virginia's. Matter of fact DC doesn't belong to you either the land was taken from Virginia. Vote to disban DC. Your vote counts.
taken from va? really? take a look at the map it was taken from md, va never gave up there half, dc was supposed to be a square.
Ok, no it wasn't devastating so I don't mind the jokes...but it could have been since so many people immediately ran OUTSIDE instead of finding a safe spot where they were ....good thing they only come around once a century out here...
I would say more than mocking Mother Nature or "you", the mockery is directed at the media (in which the author is a part of).
Facebook User - "I felt it in Maine!"
Facebook User - "I felt it in NJ!"
Facebook User - "I felt it in my pants!"
This was found on a wall of a dear friend. So far my favorite...
People from the West Coast have to mock. I'm originally from the East Coast. Totally understand that it doesn't happen "often", but my response to my friend from VA was, "The news is acting like an asteroid wiped out VA."
Yeah, yeah... COULD have been devasting... "shoulduh' coulduh' woulduh'". But it wasn't :) So, it's funny how people are freaking out.
I'll admit some of the jokes are funny but hey, give us a break. Many people on the east coast have never even felt an earthquake. Next time Cali has a hurricane or Texas has a blizzard we'll be here waiting...with macros.
PS-I'm from VA, like 30 mins from the epicenter, not DC.
Being from the East Coast originally too, I was actually excited the first time I felt an earthqauke. Luckily there wasn't any damage here, but I thought it was pretty exciting.
I think somebody needs to "Shake You All Night Long" Cindy! Sounds like it's been quite a while ;)
I don't care when the picture was taken, it's funny!
I totally agree. It was used quite nicely in fact. That poor chair must have been scared out of its teeny little mind....
I agree too, it's still funny. Although another poster had a good idea with knocking a 2nd chair over and retaking the picture
VERY FUNNY! Thank you for putting it on again!
When I first saw it on the MSN page I didn't need a caption, I just started laughing....
Mz. Palin predicted that New York earthquake because of all the bad and unchristian jokes they make about her. In her words, "I could see the tremors from my front porch".
Palin joke's getting old
Not really, but she is though......
Mother Nature is one irate woman. With all that has been going on in the past 7 years with disasters, obviously she could care less about us so to hell with her hot flashes.