Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Good one!
What exactly is a prank?
Abbie Hoffman, a 1960s radical-cum-trickster, said most pranks fell into one of three categories: “good” pranks were amusingly satirical, “bad” ones gratuitously vindictive, and “neutral” ones surreal and soft on the victim (if there was one). An example of the first is the time Mr Hoffman and his fellow “Yippies” showered the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with dollar bills in 1967, thereby managing to stop the tickertape for six minutes while traders scrambled to pick up the notes. For a taste of the second, go to any college fraternity initiation. Examples of the third are many and delicious. A master of the art in the early 20th century was Horace de Vere Cole, an inveterate British prankster. Cole bore a striking resemblance to the then leader of the Labour Party, Ramsay MacDonald, and one of his favourite japes was to appear at Labour rallies posing as MacDonald, stride on stage to rapturous applause, and denounce everything the party stood for.
The article brings back many memories from my ill spent youth. My freshman roomate in college loved pranks, and would annually declare it "April Fool's Week," touching off an escalating series of pranks among our circle. His favorite story from high school involved a quarters game where urine played a signficant role. In college he led efforts that included bricking up a friend's door with concrete and cinderblocks during the night, and releasing a live chicken in the student center of our university. (He had hoped to release a goat, but had arrived at the farmer's market after they had all been sold).
It was in prep school where the art of the fine prank, whether executed individually or by conspiracy as a "senior prank", was greatly aspired to, and no one waited until April. One had to be vigilent at all times. Low hanging fruit included the short sheet, and of course the old vaseline on the earpiece trick. Another one involved filling a manilla evelope with shaving cream, and then slipping the open end underneath a locked door, before stomping on it, sending foam all over the room.
One legendary senior prank diverted morning rush hour traffic through the campus roads, but there can be greatness in subtlety. Such as when my classmate (hailing from Danville, Illinois) taking an exam, carefully lifted his hand and quickly peered at his palm several times. His professor approached from behind, grabbed his wrist and forced open his hand, revealing the words "F*** you, I'm not cheating."
No doubt our readership has some good ones to share as well. Better yet, send them in to the Economist for potential recognition far surpassing this humble blog.
5 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Jan 10, 07:06:00 PM:
I have no intention of confessing....
heh.
By 
Cassandra, at
Tue Jan 10, 08:50:00 PM:
I love pranks.
When I was at school, some of my dorm-mates froze water in a barrel, tied a rope around it and hung it out the fourth floor window. They carefully relayed the line back in the window and secured it to the locked doorknob of the room door.
Then they loosened the hinges to the door. When their poor roommate got back from his midnight carouse, he stuck his key in the door and it flew all the way across the room and slammed into the opposite wall. Scared the (*&^ out of him. They were lucky no one was killed (they were hiding in the adjoining bedroom to watch the fun. I think he may have disgraced himself...
My dorm was a disaster area. The first night I spent there, papers suddenly started getting shoved under my door around 8 pm. I could hear strange grunts and the sound of guys muttering in German about "Shpooks!!". I shoved them back. This just as suddenly stopped with no explanation.
Then the girl next door started screaming (not seriously). I found out later she'd been tied to a chair.
About an hour later, my door flew open (it had been locked) and a bunch of bizarre fellows in ski goggles and assorted gear shuffled in. They started sorting through my half unpacked stuff. One of my brassieres ended up on the end of a ski pole, circling wildly over the head of the ringleader.
Welcome to campus life... between tobogganing down 4 flights of stairs (guaranteed to send someone to the emergency room) or the world famous grain pudding parties, it was another world for this Virginia girl.
By TigerHawk, at
Wed Jan 11, 09:56:00 AM:
Alas, our national obsession for safety and propriety is taking a lot of the fun out of campus life. At Princeton, the annual "nude Olympics" (on the night of the first snowfall) which had prevailed for decades has been banned. And the rugby team's famous "jock run," which featured the team dressed in jockstraps and running shoes trotting through town, including through Lahiere's, the most formal restaurant in town, has gone by-the-by, also as the result of official action. So many of the people who move in to town now want the benefit of proximity to a world-famous university without any of the inconveniences of college town life. It is really quite depressing.
By , at
Wed Jan 11, 11:30:00 AM:
Penn State had their share of loonies, as did the U of U. I did think pranks were fun, but because we were in the same dorm as the Ute football team, it was almost too easy to play jokes on jocks; especially when they kept falling for the same ones.
Nuff said.
By Cassandra, at
Fri Jan 13, 04:47:00 AM:
Unfortunately I can think of several more pranks from my college days, but most of them are so degenerate I was embarrassed to type them here.
No wonder I left school and came home :)
