Creative Commons image by Salendron.
Yes, that is the actual headline at Daily India: “Brit Student Expelled Over ‘Dangly Bits in Teacher’s Mug’ Prank.” That’s some vivid reporting, huh? I’m just not sure how much more there is to say about it than that, other than to point out that it didn’t happen in India; it happened in Newcastle-on-Tyne, and it was reported by The Sun, which had the vastly more tasteful headline of “Dangly Bits Pupil Hung Out to Dry.”
I guess that…well, now that I’ve gone there, it’s worth also pointing out that the colorful Daily India headline was duplicated (or maybe Daily India duplicated it) at Thai Indian, New Kerala, and the Times of India. And I may as well add that the story itself goes a little something like this:
A pupil in Britain has been expelled and three others have been suspended for their involvement in a sick prank – he and his friends took a picture of one of them putting their dangly bits in a teacher’s mug.
The prank, which happened in a corridor at Benfield School, Newcastle upon Tyne, left the teacher deeply traumatised when she found out the picture posted on the Internet, as she had unwittingly used the cup afterwards, reports the Sun.
The school’s own investigation revealed the student who took the cup had been urging friends on Facebook to dare him to carry out risky or bad-taste pranks.
Well, this certainly qualifies. Jolly good show!
And speaking of bad taste, how is it better taste to call them “dangly bits”? I presume — and I can pretty much only presume — we are talking about the young man’s penis and goddamn testicles. Right? I mean…just speaking for myself, other parts of me do, admittedly, dangle…but then, I’m a hell of a lot older than this guy. Dangling somewhat is, I surmise, one of the prices you pay for not dying young.
And when it comes to this anonymous gent’s parts, while I’m not stoked about having to read about the fact that he put them in someone’s goddamn coffee cup, a penis and testicles in that context are made no less bothersome to me — or, presumably, the teacher — by the fact of them being called “dangly bits.”
Or isn’t there an entry for this kind of thing in the BBC News Style Guide?
hey,
I used to go to this School so it makes me laugh that Newspapers as far as India are covering this story. I din’t even know about it myself until my Mam told me it was on a TV programme, so thanks for that information.
I totally agree that the term Dangly Bits is a bit…lets say it doesn’t make me feel comfortable.
Great blog =]
Nikki