Talk:List of school pranks

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[edit] Types of pranks

So far all I have seen are bullying pranks, but school pranks (or senior pranks, which redirects here) leads me to think of something that isn't directly harmful to one person, but causes disorder. I think of something like chickens all over the school or something similar to an MIT Hack. What diretion are we going to take this page?--Cadet hastings 15:19, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

I agree. At WHS, the senior class pulled a senior prank over the Memorial weekend that including filling the halls with super finely shredded paper (someone had a super shredder), placing large inflatable pools with live fishes in the halls, moving all the desks to "junior pit" and to the roof (duct taped and plastic wrapped together), and placing alarm clocks above the ceiling panels to go off at specific times. The prank was only disrupted and created chaos for the school day...no harm involved.
The current section "Organized pranks" only touches on the subject. I'm sure most high school senior classes pull some sort of senior pranks, so there might be enough content to create an independent page for organized pranks. I'll be happy to help expand the stubby page if anyone wants to create one. =) Jumping cheese Cont@ct 06:18, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
Yeah, I don't really see senior pranks as bulying, but as an organized prank. I think we should stop redirecting senior prank to this page --Cadet hastings 13:14, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
Do you want me to start the senior prank page? Oh, also...what about joke issues in school publications? I know most schools create a joke issue for the last issue before summer break. Jumping cheese Cont@ct 19:14, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
Really? My school didn't.... Anyway, I've removed the redirect tag on the page Senior prank but I don't exactly have time to make an article out of it --Cadet hastings 13:03, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
I knew that my school publication did. I also know that Caltech did a joke publication for the last issue of the school year (something about a professor using "brain growth hormones"). However, I cannot confirm if the majority of school publication print a joke issue. Jumping cheese Cont@ct 19:46, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bullying/ Neutrality

This page is not about pranks, it is about ways to bully someone. Only bullies find these remotely funny so why is this called prank. Pranks are supposed to be funny like planting a tree in the football field. The page should be moved to something that reflects this. Maybe "Bullying Tactics" or something. Also, the section on organized pranks needs to be moved to a new article with more info on senior pranks and other pranks that are similar to this. I do not object to the existance of this article, it just needs to have a different title.

On the neutrality issue, this article only sites the bad. If it is not just moved, then at the very least it needs to be edited to show more about the humor in pranks. The first sentence says that pranks end in punishment. Pranks are supposed to be funny, this article is totally biased.--K1000 04:24, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

I see it as a content issue that a neutrality issue--Cadet hastings 19:21, 26 May 2007 (UTC)
To me, it seems a bit strange referring to "attackers" and "victims". While I don't disagree with those descriptions, is it really neutral? It seems to be a value judgment. For example, you might short-sheet a close friend, and while it is in a sense an attack (you're doing something to them or their property that they don't want done), the context changes everything. --GenkiNeko 16:08, 18 August 2007 (UTC)


Okay, example from the article:
This prank fools the victim into giving their permission to get punched. The prankster approaches the chosen target with a closed donut or pastry box and asks "Would you like a hertz donut?" If the target say yes, the prankster then strikes them in the arm without any warning and asks "Hurts, don't it?"(pronounced "donut").
I would consider this to be using "weasel words". Akin to describing April Fool's Day as "A day on which some individuals lie to and deceive one another, issuing fraudulent statements intended to confuse the victims." Technically true, but not neutral! --GenkiNeko 16:14, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
I'm new to Wikipedia, but it seems that the wisdom of the masses should come to some kind of consensus and change the direction of this article. I agree... pranks are not always ill intentioned. And among males, especially teens, physical contact is a form of bonding, and things like wedgies, nipple twists, and indian burns can be merely good natured expressions between good friends.205.212.75.97 18:45, 27 September 2007 (UTC)
Some of these pranks, particularly noogie (fictional example: Nelson Muntz has done several of these), debagging, swirling (fictional example: Frasier episode 'Seat of Power') come across as bullying. The 'Hertz donut' (fictional example: Bart Simpson and Milhouse van Houten) might be considered a "good natured expression between friends", but I've never encountered it that way - then again, I consider punching someone without a very good reason to be unprovoked aggression, hence bullying. This is an area where things are so subjective that I'm sure it can be debated endlessly, but I experienced several of these pranks at school where the intention was to humiliate, hence bully. Autarch (talk) 08:47, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Renaming of Article

Since this article focuses more on the ways kids are bullied in school, and not the way that they prank other students/teachers, I think we should rename the article to school bullying.--Cadet hastings 04:49, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

It seems that this is true. Plus, there are so many different forms of "pranks" and "practical jokes." Some pranks can be extremely elaborate, clever, etc. In my high school, pranks were not a form of bullying, normally, but a way to impress people with your wit. Generally, pranks were performed in a good natured way, with most victims appreciative of getting the attention and then focusing on their revenge. The word "prank" doesn't adequately describe what's in this article. It is specifically more about bullying (although I've given my buddies more than a fair share of purple nurples and indian burns... with no ill intent.)205.212.75.97 18:40, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pranks are not always on other people

There are school pranks that aren't done on other people, such as pulling the fire alarm. Those should be discussed here too. This article focuses only on those pranks done on other people. There are many pranks that don't involve other people. RightGot (talk) 00:16, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Doesn't pulling the fire alarm involve the entire school? It may not involve other people as individuals, but it certainly involves them as a group. Autarch (talk) 08:48, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Hornets and Staples

I'm curious is these two practices are widespread enough to be notable: -Folding a piece of paper until thick and rock hard, then projecting it at someone with a rubber band, i.e., "hornets" -Modifying a mechanical pencil to fire bent staples at significant velocity. 68.230.161.164 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 23:20, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Requested move

School Bullying → School prank — move (and creation of new article at source) made without consensus. Should be moved back until consensus is obtained. —— Arthur Rubin | (talk) 20:35, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Survey

Feel free to state your position on the renaming proposal by beginning a new line in this section with *'''Support''' or *'''Oppose''', then sign your comment with ~~~~. Since polling is not a substitute for discussion, please explain your reasons, taking into account Wikipedia's naming conventions.
  • Support Bullying is systematic over time ([1][2][3][4]) but all the examples in the article can be perpetrated as a "one off". But "school prank" is also a bad title, as none of the examples are restricted to only school. Anyone can perpetrate these. A new title ("methods of physical harrassment"?) should be created. Llamasharmafarmerdrama (talk) 20:54, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
  • Oppose. School pranks include more than just things done to other people, there's also senior pranks, pulling the fire alarm, and false bomb threats which are not bullying. This article is limited to the school pranks which are done to other people. RightGot (talk) 21:44, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
  • Support Perhaps this needs a disambiguation page? From my perspective, this is a list of pranks. I agreee that these pranks may not be limited to schools, so the proposed title may not be correct.
    I wonder if school bullying means something different outside of the United States? Take a look at the first line, "A School Bullying is..." This seems to indicate a single event, not ongoing bullying. In the USA, School Bullying refers to a process.
    Perhaps in England or Australia this type of prank is called School Bullying? If so, a disambiguation page would be better.Wshallwshall (talk) 10:38, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Discussion

Any additional comments: — Arthur Rubin | (talk) 20:35, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
Somebody, apparently Wshallwshall, moved this article while supporting the move back to School prank. This seems wrong to me, but I don't see any way to fix it except to revert the entire set to the pre-move (from school prank) article, and delete all changes after that. This change, apparently by someone supporting the move, has made the move almost impossible under GDFL. — Arthur Rubin | (talk) 17:40, 20 January 2008 (UTC)
The present versions of School bullying (note spelling) and school prank seem reasonable articles on different subjects, between which the actions now listed under School Bullying: List of Actions can be divided. Can't GFDL be satisfied by copying all recent edits to all three articles, with a note on talk pages? Septentrionalis PMAnderson 21:59, 20 January 2008 (UTC)
Impossible may be overdoing it. Difficult, still. — Arthur Rubin | (talk) 07:17, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Well, this is a mess

The present title of this article is doubly nonstandard (colons are only used for subjects that have a colon in their name, such as "Mission: Impossible", plus capitalization in titles should only be used for proper names). Furthermore, most of these are pranks, which may or may not be done as a form of bullying.

I'm going to request deletion of List of school pranks so we can move this article there, and rewrite it as necessary to move the definitely-not-prank stuff to school bullying and add a sentence noting that the pranks listed may be done as a form of bullying. Any objections?--Father Goose (talk) 01:26, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

  • Support; could you also rewrite so that it doesn't read like it was actually written by a school kid? :) Cheers, DWaterson (talk) 20:19, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
k, lol.--Father Goose (talk) 23:00, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
Did what I could. I also redirect school prank to this article, since what was there was nothing more than a dictionary definition/disambig page. I changed the disambig header on this article to point to the other "prank" articles that had been listed there.--Father Goose (talk) 11:34, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Kancho

I looked into this word (and behavior), and it definitely appears to be real. This page, though a blog, shows a variety of examples which seem quite real, and it is hardly the only site documenting the phenomenon. I was unable to find any print sources on "kancho", however (at least not in English), so it does fail Wikipedia's reliable sources guideline. Though I wouldn't edit war over it, I personally am prepared to exercise independent judgment and let "kancho" remain in this article.--Father Goose (talk) 05:04, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

I have (on and off) quickly removed pranks without a claimed WP:RS; I don't have access to the references at the moment, so I cannot confirm that those those pranks that are claimed to be in the references actually are. It seemed to me to be the outcome of the AfD (the article then located at school prank). There is no requirement that the sources be in English, or even in print, but blogs do not generally qualify as sources except as to what is actually said on the blog. — Arthur Rubin | (talk) 14:24, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
Right, that's what I'm saying. Blogs don't qualify as reliable sources, under WP:RS, but the root rationale is to make sure everything on Wikipedia is verifiable -- and to my cynic's eye, the information about kancho can be verified. Not in as crisp a manner as I'd like, but a degree of independent judgment is sometimes merited.--Father Goose (talk) 20:55, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
I have wondered at times if kancho was an urban legend as it mostly seems to show up as "it happened to someone else" stories on blogs and thus highly suspect. However, The Korean term is apparently dong chim which finds this statue in Korea. There's also a blog (indirect link via Google as site is on Wikipedia blacklist) like the one above that shows images and also a photo of the video game.
I still wonder how widespread the practice really is. Kancho seems like the sort of thing kids (and adults) would giggle about a lot but when it comes time to giving a stranger or grownup a poke no one dares. That said - Here's an on-line dong chim game I ran across yesterday http://www.mikewang.org/dongchim.htm. Marc Kupper (talk) (contribs) 00:00, 20 February 2008 (UTC)
Exactly. It's hard to tell exactly how widespread the practice is, but statues, video games, manga, Naruto, videos, first-hand accounts, all documenting it? It clearly is a culturally-notable phenomenon... just not one documented yet by scholars, or at least Western scholars. Surely there must be some reliable Japanese or Korean source that describes it (a review of the video game, maybe?), but I have no means to find or interpret them.--Father Goose (talk) 00:30, 20 February 2008 (UTC)
Using Google Scholar to locate references to "kancho" we can see that
  1. It's a common name
  2. The Romanized "Kancho" also means the head person or head master.
  3. Kancho as a prank only showed up in a Letter to the editor[5] from one of the Teach-English-in-Japan people who writes "Of course, playtime also involves my students having fun at my expense, especially in the form of the “kancho”. I don’t think I’ll describe this strange phenomenon here – you need to ask a Japanese person about it (it’s really one of those things we don’t talk about in polite society!)."
  4. Not "scholar" but I don't think this video was staged like many of the kancho videos/pictures seem to be.
Thus while Google and Google Images seems to find plenty of references including a web site dedicated to the practice it's something that seems to have escaped the attention of college age scholars. I'd vote for "probably yes" on if kancho is a children's prank as defined by Wikipedia:Reliable sources. Marc Kupper (talk) (contribs) 00:51, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Table top

I put a {{cn}} in the entry because I'm not sure what its "real" name is (if it even has one). However, this is classic school prank, no doubt about it. I agree about insisting on sources for things that smack of WP:MADEUP, but I beg to differ about deleting all stuff immediately if it lacks sourcing.

Are you completely unfamiliar with the prank, as described?--Father Goose (talk) 21:10, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

Under the circumstances, I think we could actually use the cartoon script as a source for the name (as you stated it was seen in a cartoon). But we also need a source that it happens in real life. Personal observation is not adequate, and neither is the cartoon, as there are some things there which don't happen in real life. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 00:44, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
Safety Last is a live-action silent film, actually. (An amazing one, I quite recommend it.) Just found a picture of it from right before the "push": [6] That's not the only place I've seen the prank; I've never seen it done for real, but I know I've seen it many times on TV. That's true of most of the pranks on the page -- I've only seen them done on TV (and some I've never seen at all).
Here's a page mentioning the prank: [7] and one calling it "table top": [8]. Here it's mentioned in a book: [9] It's a classic prank, I'm just having trouble finding a really solid reference for it, especially for the name "table top".--Father Goose (talk) 06:55, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
Sorry about that. I was conflating "your" prank with one mentioned on The Simpsons, for which I think a real-life references was also required. Perhaps one of the (two) books of pranks already referenced in the article mention it by name.... — Arthur Rubin (talk) 20:53, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
If it's all right, I'm going to restore it to the article, unsourced for now. It's a real prank, an age-old one, but I haven't found a reliable source yet that describes it in a general way or refers to it as a "table top". Maybe someone reading the entry will add a better source or tell us what its real name is (if it has one).--Father Goose (talk) 03:53, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Bullying

This is just bullying, not pranks, and it might influence young students to do this to one another, which can lead to violence. This page should be deleted!!!!--Cssiitcic (talk) 20:26, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

That's not a basis on which it will be deleted. See all the previous nominations linked to at the top of this page. We're an encyclopedia: we document what exists in the world regardless of whether it's a good thing or a bad thing.--Father Goose (talk) 21:13, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] redirect of Teabagging (prank)

Teabagging (prank) redirects to this page, although the prank is not discussed here. Is there any reason it should not redirect to Teabagging which has an entry of it's own? --RedHillian (talk) 00:04, 8 May 2008 (UTC)