Reception of scandalous news in the Facebook group KalambuuR Cover Image

Sünnituskohaga ei mangita! Skandaalse uudise vastuvõtt Facebooki grupis KalambuuR
Reception of scandalous news in the Facebook group KalambuuR

Author(s): Airika Harrik
Subject(s): Customs / Folklore, Media studies, Culture and social structure , ICT Information and Communications Technologies
Published by: SA Kultuurileht
Keywords: folkloristics; minor genres; humour; newslore; social media;

Summary/Abstract: The article takes a closer look at some topical puns posted in the Facebook group KalambuuR, which is an Estonian group created for posting wordplays. The analysis is based on 32 topical puns from May 2018, which are related to a harassment scandal involving the famous Estonian astrologer Igor Mang. The scandal emerged when the investigative TV programme Pealtnägija (Eyewitness) uncovered that during his healing sessions Igor Mang had been harassing his female clients for years.When commenting on the aforementioned scandal, KalambuuR members reacted fast, posting numerous topical puns the same evening and the following day, but got tired of the topic within a week. At first, most puns made fun of Igor Mang’s (sur)name, later moving on to more specific details (e.g. places, activities, astrology related terms) of the scandal. In their posts, members criticized Mang for having acted perversely, describing him as sexually unpleasant and showing content about the end of his astrologer’s career. Topical posts worked also as a form of folk media-criticism: some puns were aimed at numerous news items that followed the original scandal. Overall, KalambuuR is a virtual community originally created for the sole purpose of posting puns, where active members have found new possibilities of communication via posting. For them KalambuuR is a place to make their voice heard and meet other like-minded individuals. A typical active KalambuuR member is a man at work who comes up with a pun regarding contemporary news events during his lunch break and posts his pun in the afternoon for other members to react to.

  • Issue Year: LXIII/2020
  • Issue No: 1-2
  • Page Range: 30-43
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Estonian