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Planking (or the Lying Down Game) is an activity consisting of lying face down in an unusual or incongruous location. Both hands must touch the sides of the body. Having a photograph taken of the participant and posted on the Internet is an integral part of the game. Players compete to find the most unusual and original location in which to play. The term planking refers to mimicking a wooden plank. Since early 2011, many participants in planking have photographed the activity in unusual locations. Planking can include lying flat on a flat surface, or holding the body flat while it's supported in only some regions, with other parts of the body suspended.

History and origin

Comedian Tom Green claims to have invented "planking" as early as 1994. and supplied video evidence from MTV. There are various claims that Gary Clarkson and Christian Langdon invented it: BBC says they claim to have invented planking in 2000, while Tom Meltzer of The Guardian claims they invented it earlier, before 1998.

After becoming popular in North East England, the lying down game spread to the rest of the world, where it has also been known as "시체놀이" ("playing dead") (2003, South Korea), "à plat ventre" ("On one’s belly", France 2004), "extreme lying down" (2008, Australasia), "facedowns" (2010, USA and Ireland), and "planking" (2011, Australia & New Zealand and worldwide).

Notable incidents

• The game made news in September 2009, when seven doctors and nurses working at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon, England were suspended for playing the lying down game while on duty.

• On 15 May 2011, Acton Beale, a 20-year-old man, plunged to his death after reportedly "planking" on a seventh-floor balcony in Brisbane, Australia. He won a 2011 Darwin award.

• On 29 May 2011, Max Key, son of New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, uploaded to Facebook a photograph of himself planking on a lounge suite, his father standing behind him. After the photograph was reproduced on the front page of the New Zealand Herald. Confirming that the photograph was indeed genuine, Mr. Key remarked that he doesn't see anything wrong with planking when done safely. Key was criticized for his appearance in the photograph with some going as far as to comment that he "killed" the meme.

• On 2 September 2011, Dwight Howard and about 100 of his fans planked in Beijing, China.

• The Fall 2011 season premiere of "The Office" featured several employees planking in the parking lots, the restroom, on desks, and on top of file cabinets.

• On 20 January 2012, Pat Barry planked on National Television, FOX televised worldwide, following a knockout victory over his opponent in a mixed martial arts match.

Other variations

Teapotting

Teapotting is one of the many variations of planking that arose shortly after planking went viral. Teapotting consists of bending the arms into the shape of a teapot, in reference to the children's song "I'm a Little Teapot". This variation was created by teachers in Mortlake College in an attempt to create a new 'craze' after noticing the amount of attention planking received.

Owling

Owling is a variation on planking in which a person squats "like an owl". It was first documented on 11 July 2011 in a post on the social news website reddit.

Horsemanning

Horsemanning involves posing two people so that they appear to be a single body with a detached head and is a revival of a photography fad popular in the 1920s. It is thought that the name comes from the Headless Horseman in Washington Irving's short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Batmanning

Batmanning involves hanging upside down by your feet.

Tebowing

Tebowing is a phenomenon that began to spread in October 2011. It is an act of mimicking the propensity of NFL quarterback Tim Tebow by getting down on one knee, resting head in arm and praying, especially praying in a setting whereby everyone else around is preoccupied with doing something totally unrelated.

Gronking

Toucher and Rich, of Boston's 98.5FM sports talk radio station started a trend for Patriots fans to compete with Tebowing during the 2011 NFL season. Rob Gronkowski, a player for The Patriots, was known for spiking the football in a very characteristic manner. Replacing the football with any inanimate object and spiking it when Gronkowski made a touchdown became known as Gronking.

Gallery

• Planking the street lights
• Planking across a gap between cushion-seats
• Three people plank the Taj Mahal
• Batmanning
• Owl Planking in the Snow

References

1. ^ (September 9, 2009). "The lying down game: how to play". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
2. Jon Bershad (July 13, 2011). "You Know That Internet Phenomenon 'Planking'? Seems That Tom Green Invented It In 1994". Mediate.com. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
3. Tom Green Created Planking - 1994 July 12 2011
4. "Who, What, Why: What is planking?". News magazine. bbc. 16 May 2011. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
5. Planking: a brief history May 16 2011: "It began 14 years ago with a pair of bored kids. Gary Clarkson, then 15, and his friend Christian Langdon, 12, would perform the plank in public places, amusing one another and baffling onlookers. Back then, it was known simply as the Lying Down Game."
6. (). "The lying down game on Facebook". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved November 13, 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
7. *Brad , Chris Menning , Jamie Dubs , yatta (2010) "Playing Dead," Emily Huh (ed.), Brad Kim (ed.) Know your Meme Seattle and New York: Cheezburger Inc.. available online
8. "Playing Dead (Related Submemes)" Emily Huh (ed.), Brad Kim (ed.) Know your Meme Seattle and New York: Cheezburger Inc.. last accessed 2011. available online
9. Brad , amanda b. , yatta , Tomberry , James (2011) "Lying Down Game" Emily Huh (ed.), Brad Kim (ed.) Know your Meme Seattle and New York: Cheezburger Inc.. available online
10. Guzman, Monica (March 26, 2010). "'And here I am facedown by the Coliseum'". Seattle PI. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
11. Byrne, Niall (May 14, 2010). "Facedown on the up". Irish Independent. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
12. Russel, Mathew. "Planking Gladstone". Queensland Police. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
13. Simon de Bruxelles (September 10, 2009). "Seven NHS staff suspended over Facebook 'Lying Down Game' pictures". The Times. London. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
14. Richard Savill (September 9, 2009). "Hospital staff suspended over Facebook 'lying down game' pictures". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
15. The Times (September 10, 2009). "Internet Craze 'Lying Down Game' Gets 7 Doctors, Nurses Suspended in Emergency Ward". Fox News. Retrieved November 13, 2010. Using content from The Times.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
16. "Australia man plunges to 'planking' death - World news - Asia-Pacific - msnbc.com". MSNBC. 2011-05-15. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
17. "Darwin awards". Retrieved 2012-01-13.
18. "PM's son named 'New Zealand's top planker'" Yahoo News/AFP (31 May 2011)
19. "PM says a safe plank fine by him". One News. 31 May 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
20. Did John Key kill planking meme?. Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved on 2012-01-19.
21. Golliver, Ben (2011-09-02). "Dwight Howard planks with 100 fans in China". CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
22. Gardner, Sam. "Dwight Howard planks with 100 fans in China". FS Florida. FoxSports.com. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
23. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEqMfi-A5Q0
24. The Office Tries Planking for its Season Premier www.huffingtonpost.com 9-23-2011
25. . www.mmafighting.com (2012-01-20). Retrieved on 2012-01-23.
26. "Forget planking – now it's teapotting". General. Examiner. 28 July 2011. Retrieved July 28, 2011.
27. ^ Doug Gross, (2011 ). "Forget planking -- who's up for owling? - CNN.com". cnn.com. Retrieved 22 July 2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
28. Owling the new planking. YouTube. Retrieved on 2012-01-19.
29. Bentley, Paul (12 August 2011). "Off their heads! 1920s photography craze for 'horsemanning' has a very modern makeover". Daily Mail. London.
30. 'Planking' is Dead; Long Live 'Horsemaning' [SLIDESHOW] – International Business Times. Ibtimes.com (2011-08-11). Retrieved on 2012-01-19.
31. Forget planking, it's Batmanning Sept 7 2011, The Sun (United Kingdom)The Sun
32. "Holy cow! Now students develop another craze... Batmanning". Daily Mail. London. 10 September 2011.
33. Batmanning is a Christian Bale stunt with an Adam West flavour Sept 11 2011, The Guardian's Sam Leith
34. Hess, Joshua (2 November 2011). "Embracing 'Tebowing'". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
35. Foster, Daniel. "Tebow's Religion, and Ours". National Review. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
36. "He's going to be an NFL fan! Ultrasound shows unborn baby 'Tebowing'". The Daily Mail. London. 3 December 2011. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
37. Steinmetz, Katy (9 November 2011). "Wednesday Words: Herman's 'Cain-Wreck,' Male Cleavage and More". TIME. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
38. Maske, Mark (2 December 2011). "Tim Tebow's faith makes for controversial NFL stardom but wins keep mystique alive". The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
39. Jones, Lindsay. "The story behind the "Tebowing" craze". Denver Post. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
40. Christopher Hunt (December 16, 2011). "High schoolers banned for Tebowing". ESPN New York. Retrieved December 24, 2011.
41. Toucher & Rich: Patriots Rob Gronkowski Talks Denver Broncos Defense, 'Gronking' « CBS Boston. Boston.cbslocal.com (2011-12-15). Retrieved on 2012-01-19.

External links

• Daily Mail article showing several examples
• Planks, But No Planks: The Fatal Idiocy of “Planking”, by Jim Goad at Taki's Magazine, 2011
• Web Urbanist article with some examples

• Internet memes
• 1997 introductions
• Culture jamming techniques
• Photography by genre
• 2010s fads and trends
• Crowd psychology