money bomb

[Ben Zimmer]

On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 2:40 PM, victor steinbok wrote:
>
> This has been in circulation for a while now, but I could not find any
> mention of it in list archives. A "money bomb" is a sharp spike in
> fundraising based on a particular grass-roots appeal. Wiki suggests that it
> was first coined in response to Ron Paul's fundraiser [on Guy Fawkes Day] in
> 2007 and is associated with viral internet appeals to supporters. I found
> nothing to contradict that claim. Wiki does trace it back to Oct 14 YouTube
> registration by Jesse Elder:
>
> >  New York City musician Jesse Elder is said to have coined the
> > usage of "moneybomb" for such an event. Elder registered the new
> > YouTube identity "RonPaulMoneyBomb" at YouTube on October 14, 2007
[snip later examples]

And Russ Feingold put a Wisconsin spin on it by launching a
"cheddarbomb" for his (unsuccessful) re-election campaign last year.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/09/15/feingold-drops-a-cheddarbomb/

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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