Planking (fad)
2011 fad
Planking is an activity that consists of lying expressionlessly in a face-down position, sometimes in an unusual or incongruous location. The body is kept straight and rigid, like a wooden plank, typically with the palms of the hands touching the performer's sides. Planking can include lying flat on a flat surface, or holding the body flat while it is supported in only some regions, with the rest suspended in the air.
Teenagers invented planking independently multiple times since the 1980s, with names including face dancing and the lying down game. In the late 2000s, it spread among youth in England and Australia on Facebook, leading to a global internet meme and fad peaking in 2011.
History
The earliest instance of planking, called "face dancing" by its participants, occurred in 1983 or 1984 in Edmonds, Washington by Scott Amy and Joel Marshall. The two high school age boys were walking in a park when they came upon a baseball game. They spontaneously decided to lie face down in right field to see if anyone would react. The two were left undisturbed through several innings before nonchalantly getting up and leaving.
In 1986, a group of alumni from Amy and Marshall's high school planked at a disco party in Berlin, starting a trend documented with photographs in Der Spiegel.
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