This question is a bit of a two-parter. First, the title question. Here's what I've got:

// Report all of the parents
$(this).parents().each(function(i){

    // Collect the parts in a var
    var $crumb = '';

    // Get the tag name of the parent
    $crumb += "<span class='tagName'>"+this.tagName+"</span>";

    // And finally, report it
    $breadcrumbs.prepend($crumb);

});

Unfortunately, this doesn't include the actual element itself, only the parents. Is there any way of saying something like "this and parents"?

Now, the second question. If I were unable to add to the stack, how would I separate the guts of that function into another function, while retaining the "this" ability of it? Would it be something like:

// Function to report the findings
function crumble(e){

    // Collect the parts in a var
    var $crumb = '';

    // Get the tag name of the parent
    $crumb += "<span class='tagName'>"+this.tagName+"</span>";

    // And finally, report it
    $breadcrumbs.prepend($crumb);

};
$(this).parents().each(crumble());

Thanks in advance for your time!