me-too

The #MeToo movement has produced a derived form MeTooed, as in My ex was just MeTooed.  MeTooing as an activity also exists.  Unfortunately only the spelling distinguishes this new word from the existing me-too,  linked to me-tooism defined in the MacquarieDictionary as:

noun Colloquial 1.  a desire to get whatever anyone else is getting regardless of whether it is really needed or even desirable.

2.  a pattern of behaviour which is highly imitative of what someone else does.

The adjective me-too means essentially ‘copycat’, as in me-too products, me-too politicking. The verb to me-too means ‘to imitate slavishly’.  The word first appeared in American English in the late 1880s and was quickly followed by the concept of me-tooism, and the noun a me-too or copycat.

 The verb to me-too came later in the 1940s and meant ‘to imitate slavishly’.   It is a smear word, particularly in politics where the copycatting is done to gain political advantage.  It also had the less common meaning of ‘to adopt the views of a person or party’.

The #MeToo slogan grew from the notion of creating solidarity among those who had experienced sexual harassment. As one person made their experience public, another would signal ‘It happened to me too!’

 So now we have me-tooing and MeTooing. An unusual situation.