The eagle image lands on bank jokes ^{CEFR B2}

The words “The Eagle has landed” come from Neil Armstrong’s announcement at the Moon on 20 July 1969 and later became the title of a 1976 British war film. In Trinidad and Tobago the phrase recently became an online motif after graphics showed an eagle about to alight on several bank logos.

The images appeared on X (formerly Twitter). A user, Trevon (@EJChristmas), posted several of the designs on 22 and 23 November 2023, and Marie Hull (@MariefHull) also shared images on 22 November 2023. Some people asked for the designs to be made into stickers. The images struck a chord because many people watch online bank accounts at month end; around Christmas workers expect extra expenses and want to know when employers will transfer salaries.

The automated clearing house (ACH) network moves electronic funds, but speed varies from bank to bank. The time between a transfer and receipt can be the same day or the day after. A former bank staffer told Global Voices that one local bank was often slow to move payroll. Customers of that bank were often last to receive salaries and the last to join the office tradition of announcing “the eagle has landed,” meaning they had money for bills and social plans.

Netizens adapted the phrase in many ways. When pay was late they joked that “The eagle is still on the tree.” If a salary was small, the eagle became a corbeaux, the local name for the American Black Vulture, and people used picoplat, the local name for the Grey Seedeater, to describe very small amounts. Reactions to the graphics were positive, with comments such as “Doing the Lord's work,” “You’re so real for this,” and “National Medal incoming.” End-of-month inter-office communication is now more personalised and creative.