# Internet Art:  the parbunkells billboard

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-art-the-parbunkells-billboard/736185>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [October 30, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-art-the-parbunkells-billboard/736185 "2015-10-30T16:13:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-art-the-parbunkells-billboard/736185/1 "2015-10-30T16:13:56Z")

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Described here: [http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/heres-whats-up-with-the-parbunkells-billboard-in-brooklyn](http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/heres-whats-up-with-the-parbunkells-billboard-in-brooklyn)

A woman found a 17th century word in a rare book at the NY Library. It had no Google search results. She put it up on a billboard in Queens, NY. Charting its path of emergence on the internet, and then acquiring the Etsy-type shirts and cups being made using the word as Readymades for her project, it is pretty cool.

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-art-the-parbunkells-billboard/736185/2 "2015-10-30T22:40:44Z")

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I agree that it’s rather neat. But I also see what you did there–making sure we’re part of the conversation.

Now that there are a lot of results, can anyone link a page where they discuss what it really means?

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**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-art-the-parbunkells-billboard/736185/3 "2015-10-31T00:07:13Z")

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The actual word means “binding together with two ropes”.

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**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-art-the-parbunkells-billboard/736185/4 "2015-10-31T05:22:23Z")

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Now it means: “A sex act where two gay men rub their penises together.”

Urban Dictionary is never wrong.

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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-art-the-parbunkells-billboard/736185/5 "2015-10-31T05:52:30Z")

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So is that a verb or a noun? Either way, why does it have an ‘s’ at the end?

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**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-art-the-parbunkells-billboard/736185/6 "2015-10-31T05:59:02Z")

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I’ll know this word has reached critical mass when I hear it on a [“Says You”](http://www.saysyou.net/) bluffing round.

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-art-the-parbunkells-billboard/736185/7 "2015-10-31T11:51:17Z")

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> [@Yookeroo](#):
>
> Now it means: “A sex act where two gay men rub their penises together.”
> 
> Urban Dictionary is never wrong.

Frottage never sounded so WASPy!