#172, Fad
Not too long ago, our classroom hummed the sweet tune of near frictionless metal on metal rotation. These utterly useless little creations served no purpose other than to spin. Spin to cool oneself off from the summer heat? Spin to propel a car forward? Spin to conserve the angular momentum due to the accretion disk of a cloud of hydrogen that collapsed down from mutual gravity? No, it stops at the infinitive. To spin.
Fidget spinners have since departed classrooms around the world and trending on YouTube. Yet the memory of them is a strong reminder of the power of fads.
fad n. an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived and without basis in the object's qualities
That last line is especially important. The truest examples of fads are those that are inexplicable. Somewhere along the way, someone decides that wubalubadubdub is cool for no good reason. And others agree that wubalubadubdub is pretty darn cool also for no good reason. Pretty soon it's a bona fide fad and we all want a wubalubadubdub.
To complete this Journal response,
Describe a fad you or someone you knew took part in (no fidget spinner stories please, let's let this fad die).
Comment on a peer's response.
-Brenden Lee Teacher
i’m just figuring out how hard I want to go next year. like, on the Mohs scale