Whoopee cushion

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A whoopee cushion awaiting a victim

A whoopee cushion, also known as a farting bag, poo-poo cushion and Razzberry Cushion, is a practical joke device, used in a form of flatulence humour, which produces a noise resembling a "raspberry" or human flatulence. It is made from two sheets of rubber that are glued together at the edges. There is a small opening with a flap at one end for air to enter and leave the cushion.

To use it, one must first inflate it with air, then place it on a chair or squeeze it. Some whoopee cushions can be self-inflating. If placed on a chair, an unsuspecting victim will sit on the whoopee cushion, forcing the air out of the opening, which causes the flap to vibrate and create a loud, flatulence-like sound.

The Roman Emperor Elagabalus was known to employ a prototype of whoopee cushions at dinner parties,[1][2] although the modern version was re-invented in the 1920s by the JEM Rubber Co. of Toronto, Canada, by employees who were experimenting with scrap sheets of rubber.[3] The owner of the company approached Samuel Sorenson Adams, the inventor of numerous practical jokes and owner of S.S. Adams Co., with the newly invented item. Adams said that the item was "too vulgar" and would never sell. JEM Rubber offered the idea to the Johnson Smith Company which sold it with great success. S.S. Adams Co. later released its own version, but called it the "Razzberry Cushion."[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ball, Warwick (2001). Rome in the East: the transformation of an empire. London New York: Routledge. p. 412. ISBN 0-415-24357-2. Retrieved 7 December 2011. 
  2. ↑ Icks, Martjin (15 September 2011). The Crimes of Elagabalus. Literary Review. Retrieved 7 December 2011. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Whoopee Cushion got first airing here". Toronto Star. March 31, 2008. 
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