Talk:Mooning

Grease
I always thougt the name came from the film Grease, when at the prom some guys mooned to the national tv while the song "Blue Moon" was playing, and the schoolmaster later referred to them as "the-so-called-mooners". Anyone knows more about this? --Martewa 00:58, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Braveheart
"The film Braveheart contains a scene in which over a thousand Scottish warriors moon the English forces."

In order to get the thousand into the camera's scope, the shot is a very long one with little detail, but my recollection is that they faced the Brits while raising their kilts. Perhaps that's a fabricated memory to satisfy my instinct about what a Scot of the times would consider warrior-like. I guess this gets documented one way or the other via a video rental, watched with that specific question (rather than one or the other assumption) in mind. --Jerzy 07:15, 2004 Feb 2 (UTC)

English, not Brits. ;) I think they did both. Markalexander100 07:02, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * (I'm pretty sure that the English are British, so it's proper to say either. Especially if you don't know whether they're English, Scottish, or Welsh, since those peoples all hale from the UK, as British is general, and English is specific.
 * Furthermore, the British armies of the day (and pretty much throughout its history up to its present) were/are made up of more than just English people. In fact, the percentage of actual English infantry/cavalry/archers was low considering the British Empire was made up of far more non-English than English.)
 * 2601:243:8201:53B0:513E:B6FC:A278:B5E4 (talk) 13:41, 3 July 2017 (UTC)

To make the entry more encyclopedic, perhaps someone could elaborate on the origin of the gesture? Mooning as an insult seems to be specific to certain cultures (Germanic? Celtic?) I had never heard of the concept until I moved to the States, and even then it took me a while to understand its meaning and realize that it was an ancient cultural thing. To other cultures the act may be meaningless, or even backfire (it would look as if the mooner is offering something...) Jorge Stolfi 04:32, 19 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I think the Braveheart mooning originated in Hollywood. I doubt there is much history. Markalexander100 07:06, 19 Mar 2004 (UTC)

no,actually the scots did taunt the enemy before battles and would moon and flash the enemy now whether they did in that particular battle i don't know the french had one person taunt there enemies he would stand on the battle feild and shout insults at the enemy but i don't know if he mooned —Preceding unsigned comment added by Charlieh7337 (talk • contribs) 02:36, 2 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Apart from one Ancient instance of the Roman soldier; and a couple of dubious instances in battle in the Middle Ages [ Ivo Taillefer, at Hastings certainly did no such thing, just juggled his sword before jumping in ];  plus the Maoris:  virtually every other instance is modern American, so it's specific to that culture if you like.  Particularly as it's valued enough to be protected by the Constitution.  ( I always wondered what Constitutional Lawyers actually did... )  Some American tourists pulled 10-year sentences in Thailand recently.


 * A proportion of the rest elsewhere in modern times appear to be republican in nature, including some Maori incidents, which further infers American values. It can certainly be said it is not practised much in Britain, Germany, China or the Arctic Circle. Claverhouse (talk) 21:44, 15 May 2018 (UTC)

Dubious history
I've removed the following fro mthe article.
 * ''The art of mooning dates back to the time of the Romans. They would moon the police and government officials to show their displeasure of corruption. Since those times the moon has lived on. It has been carried through the centuries passed on from generation to generation. Mooning grew in popularity in the early 1900s through college fraternities. They would dare their pledges to show their buttocks during football games, parades, and assemblies.

''
 * Who says that the Romans Mooned? Tacitus, Virgil?, the phrase "police and government officials" is anachronistic and the whole para sounds like its been made up. Mintguy (T) 21:43, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Er staat wel een opmerking op http://www.gallica.co.uk/celts/warriors.htm die vermeld dat de Kelten in de 2e eeuw voor Christus naakt tegen de Romeinen gevochten zouden hebben. Het is geschreven door Polybius. groetjes Rif


 * More dubious history posted: Can anyone provide a source for the bit about the tribes mooning the moon?  I'm inclined to send it to BJAODN but thought I'd verify. -Joshuapaquin 23:20, May 25, 2005 (UTC)

Another theory
I have read that some church father has desided that demons do not have but. Therefore showing ones but can make then uneasy and distructed and make them go away. So mooning to a person has originally meant the mooner suggest that s/he might be a deamon and will go away after that.... Sorry no refrence, i read this from an old newspaper i no longer have.(and it might be hearsay anyway).

Pop culture
So, are we going to try to list every mainstream pop-culture reference to mooning in this article? How can we justify including the material from Braveheart or Futurama without, say, Bart Simpson and the Australian government? I think the pop culture section should either be made much less specific, or removed entirely. -Joshuapaquin 05:20, Apr 14, 2005 (UTC)

I took this out - I can't imagine being able to verify it

 * In the summer of 1985, while on a road trip from Columbus, Ohio to Lexington, Kentucky, two Ohio State University electrical engineering students were mooned by a carful of young ladies from Capital University passing in the left lane. The younger of the two EE students swiftly grabbed a posterboard and marker from the back of the car, and with deft strokes, wrote and displayed a sign reading "Show Us Pink."  This resulted in displays of the middle finger from the CU students.


 * Yeah evidently someone put it back. Personal anecdotes are certainly not "notable" --Flashmorbid 01:37, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Dubious nomenclature
I removed these two sentences from the article, about "blue mooning" (mooning with the genitals visible):


 * This can also be called "eclipsing" because the "sun" is seen behind the "moon". Following this pattern, exposing the genitals can be called "sunning".

From the way it is written, it sounds like these names were made up by the editor and are not in common use anywhere. Can anyone confirm this? Thanks, Jorge Stolfi 03:07, 20 January 2006 (UTC)


 * In middle school I became aware of the use of "sunning" to mean that. I don't remember if I came up with the term or one of my friends, but it seems to me that it's one of those things that are just too obvious to give anyone credit for its invention.  This might not qualify as "common use," but I think the term would be understood by most people if given a few seconds to think about it.  Vid the Kid (t/c) Does this font make me look fat? 08:19, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Braveheart revisited
Not to count beans, or buttoxxxes, the definition in the beginning of this article is suspect. In Braveheart the Scottsmen mooned by LIFTING their kilts, not LOWERING their trousers. Also they had no underwear. In light of this, we need to develop a new term for kilt-lifting or alternatively amend the definition to include the removal of any sort of buttock-covering cloth.

Reference tags
The references and reference links are nice, but the long tags like [Crécy] look ugly and distracting. Since everythings gets automatically linked and back-linked, I don't see why they cannot be just [1], [2], etc.. Jorge Stolfi 10:42, 21 February 2006 (UTC) PS. Also, the &lt;sup&gt;...&lt;/sup&gt; in the tag template tends to screw up the line spacing. To my eyes, "blablabla [1] " is actually nicer than "blablabla[1]" All the best, Jorge Stolfi 10:42, 21 February 2006 (UTC)


 * I've converted the footnotes to the new &lt;ref&gt; format. -- Heptite (T)   (C)   (@)  14:45, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

Notable incidents of mooning & Noteworthy examples of mooning in popular culture
These two sections have become cluttered, and there's some overlap/mixing between them. For example, the Amazing Race reference should be moved from the former to the latter. I also contend that none of these incidents that don't have a citation should be kept. This would reduce clutter and, if a note is inserted in a comment for editors, probably reduce additions of non-noteworthy moonings (erm, I can't believe I'm talking about "noteworthy" moonings). So, unless there are objections here within a few days, I'm going to add a tag to all but the few cited incidents. -- Heptite (T)   (C)   (@)  04:26, 16 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I've added the tags. -- Heptite  (T)   (C)   (@)  14:45, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

I have removed the entire sections, except the statements that have refrences. The fact tags have been on the page for a month and no one has added sources. So I removed them all. Unsourced statements have no place on Wikipedia. CorrieEnders 01:51, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Removed image.
I removed the image of the man holding up the citation he received as his full name, address and date of birth, as well as the officer's name is clearly listed on the citation. I am unsure if the original uploader is the individual pictured - it doesn't say on the photograph's upload page. If it is, and he wishes to have this information public, then I see no problem. However, the police officer's name and badge number are clearly listed as well. ExRat (talk) 17:51, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

geographic distribution
I've never seen any references to mooning outside of the English-speaking world. Before re-adding the statement that it is considered rude in all of Europe please provide some evidence. Outside of the US, which cultures know the concept? --EnOreg (talk) 10:24, 7 August 2009 (UTC)


 * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REKGNdJb8Fk — Preceding unsigned comment added by 148.87.19.198 (talk) 01:17, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

Mooning on the moon
As a science fiction fan, once Lunar colonies are established, I'm waiting for the first mooning on the Moon! That will certainly be an historic event! Keraunos (talk) 08:48, 24 January 2010 (UTC)


 * You'd have to have some way of protecting your butt from explosive decompression before you could moon anyone on the Moon. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 160.94.147.149 (talk) 20:21, 30 April 2010

new includants
angus young from AC/DC mooned a lot in his youth. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.173.230.10 (talk) 23:51, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

Recently removed from page
Recently removed this:

"Other names / slang There are several slang words to describe the act of mooning. In Australia it's commonly known as "Chucking a brown eye" or "flashing a moonie", for example. The Australian version involves spreading the buttocks to expose the anus."

-because it's partially true at best, because generally browneyeing is slightly different to mooning, not just Australian, and not the predominant from of mooning in Australia today, and done in different context. Also there are dozens to hundreds of slangwords for it but all that was here seemed to be to say, 'hey look at those strange Aussies.' Natually, I couldnt find anything near a source for either this which was written or what I think is truer so I felt it best to remove it for now. Better ideas? Graze (talk) 09:00, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Mooning usually done by men
One editor has been trying to add this or an equivalent assertion. Please find reliable sources to verify it. Kenilworth Terrace (talk) 21:45, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

I dont thing this assertion is true ,but and I quote "with males, the act of mooning is most often done for the sake of humor, disparagement, and/or mockery than for sexual excitement, whereas with females, the reverse tends to be true, and sexual arousal (or at least sexual attention) of those mooned is the intent". I thing it should be written. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gery0987656789 (talk • contribs) 04:24, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Pics! I mean NO PICS!
Oh god, did this article HAVE to have a picture? When I opened it, I was *so* hoping it wouldn't have a picture.. Oh noes.. If we have to have a picture, couldn't we at least have a picture of a female mooning? I suspect that's less vomit-inducing to both sexes reading this article. I'm half-serious here, I would have seriously preferred to read the article without the picture. I don't think a picture is terribly much added value anyway, I suspect even blind people can image how horrible it is. And they can't even see pictures. W3ird N3rd (talk) 03:28, 18 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Mooning drawing.png

I figured maybe a drawing would be a good idea. It would clearly show what "mooning" is, but prevent lunches and soda from being blown all over flatpanels. I wanted to try messing around with inkscape soon anyway so decided to draw it myself. Too bad I suck so badly at drawing. Since it's my own work I feel I can't really judge if it's good enough for the article. On the upside: it fairly clearly shows what mooning is. On the downside, it's drawn by an idiot. Maybe would be nice if someone could draw something better. If anyone cares, the SVG can be found on commons as well.W3ird N3rd (talk) 03:01, 22 February 2011 (UTC)


 * I think your dislike of seeing bare buttocks is excessive. Apart from that, the drawing does not even show that they are bare, it could be underpants. Also the asymmetry (lowering the backside) is not shown.--Patrick (talk) 09:39, 22 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm exaggerating of course, but if you get a link to this article from somewhere and you don't know what "mooning" is (it's not really a common word), you at least end up getting some NSFW. And if anything, I'd say his teabags make the picture more NSFW, but there's absolutely no need for them for this article. Besides that, the aim of wikipedia should be to explain what the gesture is, not posting unnecessary NSFW content. Do note that I agree that when it IS necessary or really improves the quality of an article, it should always be included. The current picture doesn't do a terribly good job at describing mooning: yeah, we see some buttocks, but that's all. No picture was required for that. There is no audience visible, there isn't any good way to tell why he's doing this. He might as well be changing clothes? As for my shitty picture, I welcome anyone to improve it or draw a better one, mine is sharealike so please, please do. But at least mine shows somewhat how it's something that's done in public and not done by accident. And BTW, yeah, I don't throw up my lunch looking at the picture, but I would prefer not to be staring at it while eating my lunch either. I imagine especially religigous people would take more offense. There are *plenty* of people who are less comfortable with sexuality and naked skin than me. Then again, if this picture was the best possible way to show what mooning is I would still agree on keeping it - but it isn't. W3ird N3rd (talk) 18:33, 22 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Sometimes it's like somebody up there is listening. :-) http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Controversial_content and http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image_filter_referendum/en :-).W3ird N3rd (talk) 22:17, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Term was in use as early as 1964
I first heard the term at prep school in Wilbraham, MA, in the fall of 1964, when my clumsy roommate broke a window while attempting the act. The term was well established among our schoolmates at this time. 75.67.52.150 (talk) 03:36, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Unsourced material - looks like original research?
I removed the "Gender Differences" section, which read:

"With males, the act of mooning is most often done for the sake of humor, disparagement, and/or mockery than for sexual excitement, whereas with females, the reverse tends to be true, and sexual arousal (or at least sexual attention) of those mooned is the intent."

A citation-needed tag was added in April - I'm not seeing edits on that section since. I can't find a source for this, and it sounds suspiciously like OR at best and the author's opinion at best. 99.172.129.93 (talk) 00:23, 14 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Agreed. --Lexein (talk) 01:05, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

Inclusion criteria
The item about Pauly Shore mooning is the subject of an edit war.
 * 1) It was deleted with the edit summary "rm fiction". There are no  inclusion criteria excluding works of fiction.  Shore's moon occurred in reality, on film, "witnessed" by the crew and the moviegoing audience, and two movie reviewers, as cited. It was not faked, and is therefore not itself fiction. I reverted the deletion.
 * 2) Then it was deleted with the edit summary "Then you need to establish why one mooning in a film is notable."  No, because it is not the subject of its own article: WP:N states explicitly that "These notability guidelines only outline how suitable a topic is for its own article or list. They do not directly limit the content of an article or list." (guideline uncontroversially since March 2007). However, for article content (items), reliable sourcing and verifiability is required, which has been established with two online sources.  Consensus: since the item was added in May, 22 other editors have tacitly consented to its inclusion over a period of 5 months. It also passed DYK, so at least 2 additional editors explicitly approved it. Finally, it is part of a film which has established its own article notability.  I have again reverted its deletion. --Lexein (talk) 05:18, 19 October 2011 (UTC)
 * What a joke of information. As if anyone reading about this subject would need a mindless Pauly Shore reference. Give me a break. Icarus of old (talk) 05:37, 28 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Sorry you don't like it or Shore. It's a film use, earlier than other film uses with RS. Given the topic (mooning), it stands to reason, IMHO, that Shore suits the article perfectly. Or are you some sort of purist, believing that mooning is some sort of art, of the stature of, say, musical farting, as practiced by Le Pétomane, not to be sullied by populist practitioners? --Lexein (talk) 01:36, 29 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Your leaps in logic are astounding. I think you're just bent on being the Pauly Shore guardian for the Mooning article, given your editing history, which is laughable at best. Happy further editing. Icarus of old (talk) 17:02, 29 April 2013 (UTC)
 * There was no leap in logic. I asked a humorous question, in an attempt to ascertain your logic for campaigning against a multiply-cited claim. This is the talk page for improving the article. What are your concrete arguments or evidence supporting the removal of Shore? I've supported the inclusion. So what? You've been nothing but insulting. See Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement.svg and the top of my talk page. Happy future. --Lexein (talk) 02:17, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Potential picture
I was looking for free use Flickr images for wine articles and I stumbled across this pic (don't ask me how) that maybe suitable for this article. I didn't upload it to Commons and I'm not sure what the consensus on this page is for images but I figure I would leave the link here if any editor thought it was worthwhile to upload and include. AgneCheese/Wine 18:32, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

Notable incidents of mooning
IMDB is not an RS per Wikipedia guidelines, as it is user-generated, so it has been removed as a source, together with the content it supported. This list is way too long, with too many details, and is biased toward incidents in the 21st century. What makes them notable? That some media published them? This seems absurd. So mooning still occurs as a popular past-time. Put them on a separate list and let people go to that for such trivia.Parkwells (talk) 17:37, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

An art!
From the article: Mooning is the aRt (instead of aCt)... Not going to correct it because it's hilarious! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lasombra bg (talk • contribs) 03:39, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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Mooning as a personality characteristic
Should this be disambiguated with a similar concept of someone with a mooning disposition, with their head in the clouds or who is absentminded? 2601:600:8E01:626A:45FF:ED75:BF71:1C06 (talk) 22:53, 31 December 2016 (UTC)

Pressed ham
Pressed ham should not redirect here. I realize it's a slang for mooning someone with you butt pressed against a transparent surface (ie, glass), but the name was taken ironically from a product quite similar to Ham sausage. Not sure if it should redirect there, or if there should be a different article.2601:243:8201:53B0:513E:B6FC:A278:B5E4 (talk) 14:22, 3 July 2017 (UTC)
 * A correction has been made, redirecting pressed ham to ham sausage. - Polly Tunnel (talk) 11:41, 23 October 2017 (UTC)

Angus Young from AC/DC
I added the following section (after “Since 1979, The Annual Mooning of Amtrak...”, and before “An example of whakapohane...”), which was reverted for lack of source. I don't feel like spending extra time to look for a proper, wikipedically correct source on such a trivial subject, so if someone thinks it's a worthy addition, feel free to use it as it is or expand on it. « *Angus Young, guitarist from the scottish-australian hard rock band AC/DC, has included mooning as one of his stage gimmicks, and part of an intricate ritual : typically, about halfway through a show, during an extended instrumental jam, he would put down his guitar (with only the rhythm section still playing for the next few minutes, as the singer would usually take a break during the jam, leaving the drummer, the bass player, and his brother Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar), he would slowly take off his schoolboy outfit, in the form of a striptease, while running across the stage several times, eliciting cheers from the audience, which would culminate in a mooning gesture with a brief showing of his undergarments (generally one with the colors and motifs of the country's national flag, enhancing the ensuing uproar), and occasionally an actual mooning, showing his bare butt, before grabbing his guitar, playing the remainder of the show with a bare torso. » --Abolibibelot (talk) 08:11, 12 January 2018 (UTC)

External links modified (February 2018)
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130313232811/http://www.heatworld.com/Entertainment/TV/2007/05/Oh-My-God-Yvette-Fielding-pulls-a-moonie-on-telly-tonight/ to http://www.heatworld.com/Entertainment/TV/2007/05/Oh-My-God-Yvette-Fielding-pulls-a-moonie-on-telly-tonight/

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"Chucking a browneye" listed at Redirects for discussion
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