Gurgle. Thud. Crunch.
Gurgle. Thud. Crunch.
That is the noise of water bottle flipping — the compulsion
promoted through online videos to toss a partly filled plastic bottle and try
to get it to land upright — which has captivated children across the USA.
Boys and girls view it as a harmless pastime, but for
parents the repetitive noise of the children flipping (gurgle), landing (thud)
and grabbing (crunch) the bottles is torture.
Dayle Tuna, 40, of Rockaway, N.J., described a refrain
directed at one of her sons: “Would you stop with the bottles? Stop with the
bottle! Stop with the bottle!”
To hear other parents tell it and to read their posts on
Facebook, she has plenty of company.
The craze gained
notice in a YouTube video posted in May of a school talent show in Charlotte,
N.C. A contestant, Michael Senatore, held a water bottle and strutted up to a
table while music worthy of a blockbuster movie blared. With a dramatic pause,
he flipped the bottle, which landed upright on the table. The crowd erupted in
pandemonium. That footage has been viewed more than six million times.
The start of school seems to have ignited the obsessive
behavior among young people. Ms. Tuna said she was unaware of the online videos
and thought the activity was something her sons cooked up.
Ms. Tuna, who has five children, four of whom are living at
home: three boys, ages 10, 12 and 13, and an 11-year-old daughter. She said
they all toss bottles, though the girl less so.
Ms. Tuna said she had banished the practice to the outdoors,
and then one day found them trying to land bottles on her car.
Wendy Cinnamon, 44, of Rockaway, N.J., said that among
parents, “this is driving us all insane.”
Her son, Alex Venezia, 12, is a constant practitioner.“I tell
him stop and he won’t stop.”
Ms. Cinnamon has threatened to take away his smartphone. But
nothing worked and after he tossed a bottle that landed upright on top of the
refrigerator, she just gave up.
How many of his friends were doing this? All of them, Alex
replied.
“When he said ‘all of them,’ he’s not kidding,” Ms. Cinnamon
said.
“It makes you feel accomplished,” Alex added.
“That’s what makes you feel accomplished?” she asked
incredulously.
Alex said he acts on the impulse to flip bottles “whenever
I’m bored.” He predicted that the fad would soon fade.
For Ms. Cinnamon and other parents, that moment cannot come
soon enough.
You can also watch the video by clicking on the Play Button
