Cowned

June 13, 2011 12:16 PM

Is Cone-ing the new Planking? Let's hope so.

More coneing vids.

posted by Potomac Avenue (54 comments total)

It's so funny and hip to pointlessly waste food and irritate people working low-paying jobs!
posted by aught at 12:19 PM on June 13, 2011 [9 favorites]

No food is wasted in these videos.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:22 PM on June 13, 2011 [5 favorites]

The downside is that there's no way for people doing this to kill themselves accidentally.
posted by Huck500 at 12:22 PM on June 13, 2011

It is time to shame.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:23 PM on June 13, 2011

It's so funny and hip to pointlessly waste food and irritate people working low-paying jobs!

A. It's not pointless.
B. No food is wasted.
C. No one appeared to be irritated.
posted by The World Famous at 12:25 PM on June 13, 2011 [10 favorites]

I KNEW my one-year-old didn't think of this herself.
posted by jimmythefish at 12:26 PM on June 13, 2011 [3 favorites]

Wow, awesome bro. Douche factor of 5.

Now if he were to incorporate icing along with needlessly grabbing ice cream cones by the ice cream, he'd be a douche GOD!
posted by TheBones at 12:27 PM on June 13, 2011 [2 favorites]

Wow.

I used to work at a fast food place, and if someone did that, I would crack the fuck up.
posted by midnightbarber at 12:28 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

They're not irritated, they're....bemused.
posted by echo target at 12:29 PM on June 13, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'm sure that folks who work at take-out windows see all sorts of weird stuff, and this is pretty "meh" on the scale of "normal" to "wtf".

And one guy does not a movement make.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:32 PM on June 13, 2011

Yeah, the part where he pays and then doesn't throw the cone back through the window or smear it on the wall is kind of key to it not being assholery, I figure. And by the time a mix of ingredients ends up in the bowels of a soft-serve machine at a fast food restaurant, it's pretty much off the whole Solving World Hunger table already.

I mean, it's a silly infantile prank, but it's also pretty self-contained. I giggled.
posted by cortex at 12:34 PM on June 13, 2011 [7 favorites]

I just learned about Planking from 5secondmovies
posted by ts;dr at 12:34 PM on June 13, 2011

Planking is the new black. In that "[activity X] is the new planking" is the new planking. Is the new black. Or something. I'm a little confused, here.
posted by chasing at 12:35 PM on June 13, 2011

Yet another reason why the terrorists hate our freedom.
posted by Capt. Renault at 12:37 PM on June 13, 2011

And by the time a mix of ingredients ends up in the bowels of a soft-serve machine at a fast food restaurant, it's pretty much off the whole Solving World Hunger table already.

I totally agree that this is harmless (and not trying to start anything) but I've always been irked by this argument. Demand drives supply.
posted by jimmythefish at 12:40 PM on June 13, 2011

SPOILER ALERT:






My favorite one is where he pulls out a cone and sticks it on the other cone and then stares at the woman and she goes "Wh-where did you get that?" and he goes, "The box." and then drives away.

Balla.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:41 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Demand drives supply.

Yes. If that one guy stops holding his soft serve cones the "wrong" way, demand for soft serv will certainly drop enough to influence global foodstuff distribution.
posted by The World Famous at 12:45 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

sticky
posted by sswiller at 12:46 PM on June 13, 2011

That's so fetch.
posted by Sailormom at 12:47 PM on June 13, 2011 [5 favorites]

I thought this was going to be about Thomas Bernhard.


* sigh *
posted by everichon at 12:49 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

I totally agree that this is harmless (and not trying to start anything) but I've always been irked by this argument. Demand drives supply.

Certainly, but not at the level that a chucklehead or three messing themselves up with inverted cones is going to have any effect on. Restaurants throw out a lot of food every night; this is not a straw breaking any known camel's back in terms of supply and demand or resource management.
posted by cortex at 12:50 PM on June 13, 2011

Awesome. Doesn't work when the person doing it is laughing or smiling at all though..

I used to have a mate who worked at McDonalds in the middle of town. Late at night it was drive through only, and every now and then drunks (on foot) would stumble through the drive through and demand to be served.
One night he said he wouldn't serve them unless they piggy-backed each other through, which they did, and got their order.

As someone who's worked in service and in restaurants as long as they aren't making a mess on me or the store, and are paying, they can have as much silly fun as they want.
posted by Dillonlikescookies at 12:50 PM on June 13, 2011 [5 favorites]

The only one that I thought was funny was "Put a cone atop the first cone and drive away". I really hope that is what cone-ing ends up being.
posted by 23skidoo at 12:59 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah - me too.
"Where did you get that cone?"
deadpan "I bought a box."
*drives off*
posted by Dillonlikescookies at 1:07 PM on June 13, 2011

I like the one at the end where he takes the cone from Kate Winslet.
posted by odinsdream at 1:29 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

That was dumber than I thought it would be.
posted by cashman at 1:44 PM on June 13, 2011 [2 favorites]

This was hard to watch on many levels. For instance, in the basement.
posted by swift at 2:04 PM on June 13, 2011 [2 favorites]

When I was a kid, we used to change the letters on signs at movie theaters, fast food restaurants, etc. to say funny things. We didn't have a name for it, and it wasn't some kind of big trend. We were just driving around aimlessly one night and passed a sign that said CRUISE DONUTS and so we started doing it. The apex of our achievement was to change a movie theater sign that was showing Encino Man and White Men Can't Jump to say ALBINO MAN CAN'T TAN.
posted by snofoam at 2:23 PM on June 13, 2011 [5 favorites]

But, why is it cone-ing and not coning?
posted by smrtsch at 2:29 PM on June 13, 2011

Waste of perfectly good ice cream. But eschewing the napkin is green(er), I guess.
posted by Soliloquy at 2:40 PM on June 13, 2011

When I was a kid, we used to change the letters on signs at movie theaters, fast food restaurants, etc. to say funny things.

We used to do this too, and I still try to think of what I could change signs to. One of my favorites was a sign for a daycare that, among various other things, said, "WE LOVE BABIES!" Which was changed on different occasions to, "WE LOVE RABIES!" and, "WE LOVE SCABIES!"

Also, a church board that ended up as "GORILLA RAPE." I don't remember what it was originally, but we drove by a little while later and there was a cop sitting in his car laughing at it.
posted by cmoj at 2:43 PM on June 13, 2011 [2 favorites]

When I was a kid, we used to change the letters on signs at movie theaters, fast food restaurants, etc. to say funny things.

I've heard a hundred sad stories start that same way. Everybody thinks it's harmless fun, just having a laugh.

And at first it feels that way, but then you find yourself anagramming more and more, not just marquees and church signboards any more, it's a compulsion, you're wrecking every scrabble game you walk past, you're breaking into houses to rearrange the alphabet refrigerator magnets.

And then before you know it you're doing years of hard time in a medium-security graduate program for computational linguistics, and you find yourself asking that same question everybody does: how did it come to this? Doth wit dichotomise? Sooth twitched idiom?

Woo, tots hitched MIDI?
posted by cortex at 2:47 PM on June 13, 2011 [13 favorites]

When did pranks become so damn stupid? I'm also getting annoyed at the 'pranks' that are basically assaulting or hurting someone, but that's another story. At least changing signs takes some creativity and wit to make them funny. This and "planking" are just so boring, yet they think it is some groundbreaking thing. When i was a kid a friend of mine would go to McDonalds and order a "Cheeseburger, no cheese." just to see what would happen, usually the counter person took it literally, but someone making the food would question "you mean a hamburger?". Not the most witty thing, but he didn't record it and claim it was something amazing.
posted by usagizero at 3:03 PM on June 13, 2011

I'm also getting annoyed at the 'pranks' that are basically assaulting or hurting someone, but that's another story.

There was a funny Christopher walken SNL sketch where he shows up on a kids prank show and his pranks are just him assaulting people with tire irons and stuff. Zany sound effects were added. It was pretty funny.
posted by delmoi at 3:24 PM on June 13, 2011

When did pranks become so damn stupid?
I know art when I see it and these are no pranks; they're totally pieces of art.
posted by coolxcool=rad at 3:35 PM on June 13, 2011

Are these people paying for their ice cream or are they using the confusion to leave with their cones?

There's, maybe, one fast food place left near me that uses the pay-window-followed-by-the-food-window anymore.
posted by CarlRossi at 3:37 PM on June 13, 2011

When I was a kid, we used to change the letters on signs at movie theaters, fast food restaurants, etc. to say funny things.

Man, I'm glad it wasn't just me! My favourite was the discovery that I could rearrange NO SMOKING signs to read MOON KINGS.
posted by doop at 3:45 PM on June 13, 2011

It's Australia. There's always two windows. Pay and collect.
posted by panaceanot at 3:47 PM on June 13, 2011

I think I see the hazard inherent in this coning thing: the steering wheel is on the passenger's side. That's dangerous unless you deliver the mail.
posted by not_on_display at 3:48 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Well these establishments should have thought of that before they set out their iced-confection wares from a french-windowed starboard side.
posted by panaceanot at 3:54 PM on June 13, 2011

When I was a kid, we used to change the letters on signs at movie theaters, fast food restaurants, etc. to say funny things

The best I ever saw was a re-arrangement from "BILL IS BACK" to "LICK BILLS BALL SACK" they had to combine letters from both sides of the sign,and it stayed that way for about four days
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:45 PM on June 13, 2011

Nope, nope, nope. They've got a long way to go before they come close to this professional "coner" in Istanbul http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9XL31St2g8
posted by Surfurrus at 4:57 PM on June 13, 2011 [6 favorites]

In a world where handing off ice cream cones was awkward, one man had the courage to follow his instincts.

Seriously, though, I think part of my amusement here is the twisted logic.
posted by stroke_count at 8:05 PM on June 13, 2011

It could possibly be offensive to Beldar or Prymaat....
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 8:06 PM on June 13, 2011

Yikes. It wasn't until the communication-rich information age I realised the Aussie accent was so jarring. Sheesh, I thought Texan accents were in-your-face.

"Where'd ya get the kaorn from?" *shudders*

Potomac Avenue, Dillonlikescookies, you failed to add the final bit of the exchange that just topped it off. As he's driven off without taking the goods he's paid for, you can hear her faintly protest "are you....?"
posted by uncanny hengeman at 9:04 PM on June 13, 2011

Oh, internets, I was expecting orange traffic cones and lots of lube.
posted by billb at 12:45 AM on June 14, 2011

I'm also getting annoyed at the 'pranks' that are basically assaulting or hurting someone, but that's another story.

Hey… hey, dude! You've been kicked in the nuts!
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:54 AM on June 14, 2011

we used to change the letters on signs at movie theaters, fast food restaurants,

This particular art reached its zenith when the various fast food restaurants started introducing Angus burgers, and every twelve-year-old in the country, including inner twelve-year-olds, arrived simultaneously and instantaneously at the same bright idea.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:40 AM on June 14, 2011

we used to change the letters on signs at movie theaters, fast food restaurants,

Best one I ever saw:

SPRING INTO THE SEMESTER
-----------------------------------> PIG SEMEN TESTER
posted by The White Hat at 5:20 AM on June 14, 2011

I don't get how coning can be the new planking. They are different categories of activity. In coning the object is to get the reaction shot of the server. In planking, the object is to get a funny picture.
posted by DU at 6:00 AM on June 14, 2011

Nope, nope, nope. They've got a long way to go before they come close to this professional "coner" in Istanbul

Heh. Though to be fair the ice cream in Turkey is quite a bit thicker and stickier than the usual American soft-serve (it has flour and mastic in it in addition to the expected cream and sugar).
posted by aught at 6:36 AM on June 14, 2011

There was a funny Christopher walken SNL sketch where he shows up on a kids prank show and his pranks are just him assaulting people with tire irons and stuff.

"I pranked him to death with a tire iron."
posted by infinitywaltz at 10:20 AM on June 14, 2011

When I was a kid, we used to change the letters on signs at movie theaters, fast food restaurants, etc. to say funny things. We didn't have a name for it, and it wasn't some kind of big trend. We were just driving around aimlessly one night and passed a sign that said CRUISE DONUTS and so we started doing it. The apex of our achievement was to change a movie theater sign that was showing Encino Man and White Men Can't Jump to say ALBINO MAN CAN'T TAN.

A group at our college was able to arrange the name of one of our buildings to say HAMSTER SANITARIUM without skipping any letters. That was fantastic.
posted by odinsdream at 10:23 AM on June 14, 2011

I must admit, I laughed harder at that first cone-ing video than I expected to.

As for signs: near my daughter's school, FART ON PET.
posted by AzraelBrown at 11:18 AM on June 14, 2011