Three McDonalds … two Dairy Queens … all hit in one small, southern Minnesota town by the plotting of local high school juniors. Their plan of attack … Cone-ing.
Ina Larson and her friends, including Karli Kriewall, jumped into one car and drove through all five drive-thrus, purchasing only one ice cream cone and demolishing it in front of the drive-thru worker.
Cone-ing (kohn-ing) is an Internet fad that sprung up in the summer of 2011. It started as a part of You Tube user stevensalki’s prank video, which did not originally become popular until he uploaded more Cone-ing videos. The video reached its peak mid–summer, with about 130,000 views. The concept stevensalki created is rather simple. All you need to do is purchase an ice cream cone, and when the employee hands it to you do one of the following things: Smash the ice cream against your face, grab the ice cream upside down, or ask the employee “Do you believe in unicorns?” and proceed to smash the ice cream specifically on your forehead and yell “believe” as you drive away. There are, of course, many different variations, and all qualify as long as the employee becomes confused, surprised or bewildered.
Larson and her friends spent about $10 in a one-night spree of fast food pranking. When asked about how the drive thru workers responded, Larson said, “They just stared as we drove away.”
Larson and her friends had been inspired by the You Tube videos that were circulating quite quickly. While cone-ing, the group of juniors usually alternated who would actually grab the ice cream.
“We would either scoop a little off the tip of the ice cream with one finger and drive away, or smash the ice cream against our face,” Larson said.
They also used the traditional technique of the upside-down grab.
Cone-ing is another branch of the odd-ball pranking that has been popular within the past year all over the internet. Also, Planking and Horsemaning are popular.
Planking (plang-king) is the act of lying face down on top of something. Planking was featured on the Growl earlier this year. It has no reaction value like Cone-ing, but instead is usually used for fun picture taking.
Planking has its health risks; on May 15 an Australian named Action Beale decided to plank on the seventh floor balcony in Brisbane. Beale, who was 20 years old at the time, fell off the edge of the balcony while attempting to plank. The results of the prank gone wrong were deadly. Not only that but extremists have used planking as a way to riot peacefully; as a result the Philippine government has actually introduced a bill called the Anti-Planking Act of 2011. This act strictly prohibits planking as a form of redress of grievance.
The third Internet phenomenon growing in popularity is Horsemaning (Hawrs-man-ing). It is the least popular of the three and involves posing for a picture, but instead of sitting upright you lean your head all the way back in order to remove your head and neck from view of the camera, and then placing someone else’s head in the picture while hiding their body. The outcome looks like that of the headless horseman, hence its title. Planking and Horsemaning are both categorized as photo fads and under the same umbrella of Internet prank phenomenon as Cone-ing.
So now you know what Cone-ing is. It is viewed as a fun prank to pull but you must take certain precautions when planning because, while the act of cone-ing is not illegal, you can be arrested for disorderly conduct or stealing if you take the cone away before paying for it.
So be careful, and bring a napkin. It can get messy.