What is the ph-Madnote?
The story of this renowned expression begins with a humble man: Marc-Alain. From a young age, Marc (or “Boy” as he is better known by his friends) was destined to redefine social norms. With such classics as “Take me to the peasants”, Marc took no time to create his own urban dictionary.
But no expression has come to define Marc as much as the infamous ph-Madnote. It is hard to begin to even comprehend the impact of this expression has had on society as a whole. A quick Google search brings countless results debating its meaning and origin. But behind it all is always the legend itself: Marc-Alain.
Before his genius became known far and wide, Marc-Alain lived what most of us would consider a normal life. He was a natural dancer and known never to shy away from a dance-off. These dance-offs were singular events where you would be able to witness the “Birdman” unleashing his patented moves on the dance floor. To this day, while many have tried, no other dancer has been able to claim the “Birdman” title from him.
Legend has it that it was during one of these dance-offs that the infamous ph-Madnote was first uttered. While the details of the dance-off challenge are still unclear to this day, we know that Marc took tremendous insult to his challenger’s comments. His honour clearly besmirched, Marc told said individual in no uncertain terms that he had committed a ph-Madnote. After which he inflicted his own ph-Madnote by schooling him in a dance-off.
Everything after that is history. ph-Madnote took a life that even Marc couldn’t even imagine at the time. An attempt to put into words the personal slight that a dancing challenger had inflicted on him became a cultural phenomenon that lives on to this day. But, to whomever has met Marc, there is never a doubt that it was this man that first uttered ph-Madnote.
Classifications of Madnotes
The impact of the introduction of the ph-Madnote by Marc on human civilization is of course undisputed. But not resting on his laurels, Marc one-upped himself over the years by devising a complex and deep classification system to describe the various sub-genres of potential madnotes. A deeper discussion of such terminology requires further examination here:
The Original: The Madnote
The origins of the Madnote remain mysterious to this day, but what is known without a doubt is that before any ph-Madnotes were ever uttered, the Madnote came first. Not quite, as powerful as a ph-Madnote, the term infers a combination of humiliation, challenge and jest. A precise definition is impossible and any attempt to do so can, paradoxally, be a madnote in itself.
The term can be employed interchangeably as a verb (“Woooa, he totally madnoted you”), a noun (“Woaaaa, what a madnote”), and even an adjective (“Its such a madnote of a day”).
The Main Course: The ph-Madnote
Not content with his first realizations, Marc furthered his contribution to the field of human vocabulary with the addition of a new term, the ph-Madnote. As previously mentioned, it is believed a dance off was the spark that led to the expression of this particular type of innovation. But how does a ph-Madnote differ from a madnote you might ask?
Albeit a little know fact, it is paramount to note that “ph” stands for “public humiliation”. A ph-Madnote thus requires a form of public humiliation to take place. The disgrace felt by the losing challenger in the dance off (a person that still remains unknown to this day), and the shear reaction of the crowd, constitute the perfect expression of this term.
The Hiroshima: The pr-Madnote
Not to be outdone, Marc devised an even more extreme category of madnotes, reserved for only the most cruel and unusual sleights, the pr-Madnote. Referring to “public ridicule”, the pr-Madnote is appropriately employed only in situations of deep public shamefulness.
A person having disgraced himself, publicly, to the point where the crowd is spontaneously taken to laughter and even finger pointing towards the ignominious act, would be deemed to merit a pr-Madnote. Very few people alive have ever heard the term uttered or visualized an event so extreme as to merit the award, but it remains a key component of the global madnote arsenal.
The infamous banana incident of 2015, ironically affecting Marc himself, is believed to be at the origin of this invention, and would of course constitute a stellar example of such a madnote.