Fresh Out of Ideas, Young People Take Up "Owling"

A young man "owling" at his [former] place of employment.

I must be getting old. Apparently, there is an "owling" craze taking place right under my nose, and here I am utterly oblivious to the whole thing.

The bizarre internet craze of ‘planking’ is set to lose its cult online status to the increasingly popular trend of ‘owling’.

Hundreds of young people in America, Australia and now, Britain, have taken up the new ‘owling’ craze.

It consists of nothing more taxing than crouching on one's haunches and staring into the middle distance, like an owl.

Participants then take photos of themselves and post them on Facebook or on other social networking sites.

Extra kudos is earned for those who do it in unusual situations.

The trend is a development of the popular craze of ‘planking’ in which people would take pictures of themselves lying face down in strange locations.

However, in recent months ‘planking’ has become increasingly mainstream - and thus less popular on the trend-conscious internet.

Last month the celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay posted pictures of himself planking - a development that prompted trend-watchers to declare the craze ‘officially dead’.
‘Owling’ is believed to have started in Australia within the last few weeks.

Indeed, it is so new that the Wikipedia entry for ‘owling’ describes the practice as being a term used in the Middle Ages to describe the ‘the smuggling of sheep or wool from England to another country’.

Despite its relative youth, the owling craze already has two popular Facebook groups dedicated to it, onto which more than 1,000 people are listed as members.

More pictures here.

Cross-posted. Hat tip: Drudge.