goldfish swallowing
{{Short description|Fad in American colleges in the late 1930s}}The act of swallowing live goldfish was a fad first popularized by students at American colleges in the late 1930s.{{cite web|last=Meyer|first=Amelia|date=January 12, 2011|title=1939: The year of goldfish gulping|url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/2011/01/1939-the-year-of-goldfish-swallowing.html|website=National Museum of American History Behring Center|publisher=Smithsonian National Museum of American History|accessdate=March 13, 2019}}
History
= 20st century =
The origin of this practice is unclear. A 1963 letter to The New York Times claimed that it was started by a man named Lothrop Withington Jr.—grandnephew of the noted genealogist Lothrop Withington—who was a freshman at Harvard University and did so to win a $10 bet as part of a bid to become class president.{{Cite news| url= https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/goldfish-swallowing/ |title= College Bros in the 1930s Were the Champs of Goldfish Swallowing|date=2018-02-13| work= Ripley's Believe It or Not!| access-date=2018-04-30|language=en-US}} The stunt started a competition between multiple universities such as Penn, MIT, and Harvard in an attempt to surpass one another.{{Cite news| url= https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/great-goldfish-swallowing-craze-1939-180954429/|title=The Great Goldfish Swallowing Craze of 1939 Never Really Ended|last=Clark|first=Laura|work=Smithsonian Magazine |access-date=2018-04-30 |language=en}} In April 1939, Marie Hansen of the University of Missouri School of Journalism became the first woman widely known to participate in this trend.
The activity even prompted the establishment of the Intercollegiate Goldfish Gulping Association (IGGA), which sought to determine and enforce competition standards.{{Cite news |date=1939-03-31 |title=Albert E. Hayes, Jr. '42, Crowned New Champion Of Intercollegiate Goldfish Swallowers Yesterday |url=https://thetech.com/issues/59/16/pdf |access-date=2025-04-29 |work=The Tech |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |volume=59 |issue=16}} The last title on record went to Clark University's Joe Deliberto, who sucked down 89 goldfish.{{Cite web|last=Weiss|first=Haley|date=2019-01-26|title=This Is What Happens When You Drunkenly Swallow a Live Catfish|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/01/netherlands-catfish-swallowing/581359/|access-date=2021-05-15|website=The Atlantic|language=en}} Critics of goldfish swallowing soon emerged, such as the Society for the Prevention of Goldfish Eating, established in the spring of 1939.{{Cite web|last=Andrews|first=Stefan|date=2019-02-05|title=The Hottest Challenge on 1930s College Campuses - Swallowing Goldfish|url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2019/02/05/goldfish-swallowing/amp/|access-date=2021-05-15|website=The Vintage News|language=en-US}} Additionally, Eva Williams Raymond published a poem in the Boston Herald condemning the practice:
To end this paranoiac prank,According to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, goldfish swallowing was such a craze at universities during the 1930s that it made appearances in several news publications, including The New York Times and the Washington Post. An article in April 1939 in the Los Angeles Times called it goldfish gulping and showed a photo of someone mid-act. According to The Nashua Telegraph, a dance mimicking the goldfish gulping trend was also introduced among students, termed "doing the goldfish".{{Cite news|date=1939-04-14|title=Pretty Soon It May be Safe for a Goldfish to Go to College|page=15|work=Nashua Telegraph|location=Nashua, N.H.|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2209&dat=19390414&id=fwlAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tqQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=794,5459478&hl=en|access-date=2021-05-15}}
O Harvard, how I wish
You'd put the students in a tank
And graduate the fish!{{cite web |last1=Burgheim |first1=Richard A. |title=Goldfish Swallowing: College Fad Started Here, Spread Over World |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1952/5/6/goldfish-swallowing-college-fad-started-here/?page=single |website=The Harvard Crimson |access-date=3 April 2025}}
Another possibility of the origins of goldfish swallowing comes from Chicago bartenders, most notably Matt Schulien (who performed magic while tending bar at his family's restaurant). He would cut up carrots to look like goldfish tails. When performing the stunt, bartenders like Schulien would reach into a bowl of goldfish kept behind the bar while palming the carrot piece, placing it in between their pursed lips, using their tongues to lever it up and down to mimic the actions of a live fish, finally swallowing the carrot piece.{{Cite news|date=2012-01-19|title=Not Funny Sleights --- Live Magic Fades|pages=5–6|work=Chicago Tribune|publisher=|location=Chicago, Illinois|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9683205/chicago-tribune/|access-date=2021-05-15|via=Newspapers.com}} That trick dates back to the 1920s, and the fad could have been started by college students fooled by the trick.{{Cite book|last=Lasher|first=Micah|title=The Magic of Micah Lasher: More Than Fifty Tricks That Will Amaze and Delight Everyone --- Including You|work=A Fireside Book|publisher=Simon & Schuster|others=Akemi Yoshida|year=1996|isbn=0-684-81390-4|location=New York, NY|pages=173}}
In the 1950s, the stunt became so popular that Massachusetts State Senator George Krapf filed a bill to "preserve the fish from cruel and wanton consumption."{{cite news |first=Richard A. |last=Burgheim |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1952/5/6/goldfish-swallowing-college-fad-started-here/?page=single |work=The Harvard Crimson |title=Goldfish Swallowing: College Fad Started Here, Spread Over World |date=6 May 1952 |access-date=27 May 2018}}
= 21st century =
Although once widely practiced largely at American colleges, the stunt is rare today, but has made appearances in recent entertainment. In 2000, Jackass star Steve-O swallowed a live goldfish and regurgitated it moments later.{{Cite web|last=Steadman|first=Ian|date=11 February 2014|title=How long can a goldfish survive if you swallow it?|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/future-proof/2014/02/how-long-can-goldfish-survive-if-you-swallow-it|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2018-05-21|website=New Statesman|language=en}} It even evolved into an Internet challenge called "The Goldfish Challenge", which earned the disapproval of PETA, citing evidence that the practice caused the animals "needless pain". Additionally, according to The Atlantic, goldfish gulping had become a "fixture of collegiate hazing rituals", and regularly listed as offenses in lawsuits against fraternities and sports teams, notably a lawsuit against five upperclassmen and an additional member of a former swim team in the University of Virginia.{{Cite web|last=|last2=|last3=|first3=|last4=|last5=|last6=|last7=|last8=|first8=|last9=|date=2016-03-29|title=Settlement reached in UVa swim team hazing lawsuit|url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-settlement-reached-in-uva-swim-team-hazing-lawsuit-2016mar29-story.html|access-date=2021-05-15|website=San Diego Union-Tribune|language=en-US}}
In 2014, Jack Blowers, a 20-year-old from the United Kingdom was fined £200 and banned from owning pet animals for a year by the RSPCA for gulping down two goldfish, both of which survived, alongside aquarium water, fish food, and gravel as part of a Neknomination video on Facebook.{{Cite web|last=Withnall|first=Adam|date=2014-07-24|title=Neknomination goldfish swallowing 'prank' sees 20-year-old Jack|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/neknomination-goldfish-swallowing-prank-sees-20-year-old-jack-blowers-fined-ps200-following-rspca-prosecution-9624961.html|access-date=2021-05-15|website=The Independent|language=en}} In 2019, a New Jersey man was arrested and charged with cruelty to animals, improper telephone communications, and being a fugitive from justice for more than 26 months{{Cite web|last=Hermann|first=Adam|date=2019-01-10|title=N.J. man who allegedly ate pet fish arrested after more than two years on run|url=https://www.phillyvoice.com/new-jersey-man-arrested-eating-womans-pet-fish-lsu-ole-miss-football/|access-date=2021-05-15|website=PhillyVoice|language=english}} after allegedly swallowing his ex-girlfriend's goldfish in her dorm room at Louisiana State University and sending a photograph of his feces, with the caption, "Found your fish".{{Cite web|last=Seldon|first=Aja|date=2019-01-10|title=Man eats ex-girlfriend's pet fish, sends photo with caption 'found your fish'|url=https://www.kron4.com/news/man-eats-ex-girlfriends-pet-fish-sends-photo-with-caption-found-your-fish/|access-date=2021-05-15|website=KRON4|language=en-US}} In October 2020, the LSU goldfish incident was expunged from his record.{{Cite web|date=2019-01-08|title=Bizarre: Man accused of eating LSU student's pet fish, arrested two years later|url=https://www.wbrz.com/news/bizarre-man-accused-of-eating-lsu-student-s-pet-fish-arrested-two-years-later/|access-date=2021-05-15|website=WBRZ|language=en}}
Health risks
Swallowing live goldfish can lead to serious health complications. Goldfish may carry parasites, bacteria like salmonella, or fungal infections that are harmful to humans. The practice poses a choking risk and can cause internal injuries due to sharp fish bones. If the practice involves goldfish bought from a pet store, a rare skin condition caused by bacteria in the water, known as aquarium granuloma, may result. This can cause skin rashes and lesions which may develop into tuberculosis. Additionally, many commercially available goldfish are treated with antiparasitic and antibacterial medicines. Some of these medicines are recognized as carcinogens and could pass on harmful effects to the consumer.{{cite web |last1=Rose |first1=Sharon |title=You Can Eat Your Goldfish, But Here's Why You Shouldn't|url=http://www.foodrepublic.com/1294337/can-you-eat-a-goldfish |website=Food Republic |access-date=3 April 2025}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.badfads.com/events/goldfish-swallowing/ Goldfish swallowing] at Bad Fads Museum
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090211141802/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_tov/ai_2419100268 College Fads] from The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture
{{seafood}}
Category:1930s fads and trends
Category:Student culture in the United States