18 Of The Most Ridiculous, Pointless, And Absolutely BAFFLING Trends That Have Ever Existed In Human History
Recently over on the Ask Reddit subreddit, u/Flyingfaraway11 posed the question, "What was the worst trend that has ever existed?" I immediately expected the comments to be filled with mostly beauty and fashion trends like pencil-thin eyebrows or acid-wash denim. And, yeah, there were a few style-related fads. But to my surprise, people were responding with a much more eclectic mix of things — like internet challenges and just THE strangest forms of entertainment — that were popular anywhere from super recently to literal centuries ago. Here are the most interesting — and baffling — responses.
1."The 'gallon smashing prank' where a person would purposely drop gallons of milk in a grocery store while making it look like an accident, leaving a huge mess for some poor supermarket employee to clean up."
2."Licking stuff at the grocery store and putting it back."
3."For me, I’ll never be able to process the fad from the Victorian era of EATING EGYPTIAN MUMMIES. Never will that shit not send me right back to pure disbelief, horror, and confusion."
"It was even longer than that. Europeans started eating mummies in the 12th century for medicinal purposes. The Victorians definitely kicked it up a few notches, though; instead of just eating mummies to cure what ailed them, they also made paint out of them and hosted parties to unwrap them."
4."I would say pulling pranks on random people in public."
5."Gender reveal parties, especially the ones with fire."
6."At-home X-Rays in the late 19th century. People would get together to X-Ray each other for fun, exposing themselves to huge amounts of radiation."
7."As far as fashion — the tiny little mustache trend that everyone wore. It was printed on everything for a solid year or two and was just cringe in general."
8."The devious lick."
"There was this trend of kids ripping anything they could off from the walls of their schools and stealing it. They would steal anything from sinks to toilets and ended up causing a lot of property damage!"
9."I never really understood the whole pet rock thing, tbh."
10."The tapeworm diet. People would supposedly eat a tapeworm to lose weight."
11."People pretending to be 'poor' or 'working class' without any of the actual drawbacks, like that hipster wedding in the 2000s that got a lot of flack for having a 'Depression-era hobo theme.' Whenever I see stuff like that, I think of the Zoolander fashion show based around homelessness called 'Derelicte.'"
12."COVID-19 spreader event parties."
13."The girl boss trend. It's mentally exhausting."
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14."Recording yourself doing good actions, like giving food to people experiencing homelessness with a camera in your hand. It’s not charity if you expect something in return or if you’re taking advantage of others. That kind of cringe kills me."
15."Pole sitting (testing how long you could sit on a pole) and dance marathons (testing how long you could dance) in the early 20th century."
16."Literally any TikTok dance trend. I used to work in a school and the kids would be trend dancing down the halls, running into walls and other people because 'it was the thing to do.' Maybe I’m just old, but all of those dances are just goofy as crap."
17."The clown trend that happened a few years back." (In 2016, people all over the world started reporting evil clown sightings).
18.And finally, "That one where men would dip their testicles in soy sauce because they believed their balls had tastebuds."
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
