Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Boys will be Boys


BERLIN, Germany - According to an Associated Press story, eight teenagers were hospitalized after consuming chili sauce in some kind of 'double dog dare ya' challenge (that's 'zweimal hund wagen du' in German). The sauce was reported to be 200 times hotter than your table top Tabasco which is a relatively mild 2,500 Scoville Units.


The stuff these kids were chugging was a whopping 535,000 Scoville units which for you pepper aficionados is the heat from the juice of a Red Savina Habanero pepper. One of the three hottest peppers known to man and almost a many Scoville Units as pepper spray.


Now here is the real surprising fact about this story - the teenagers were all boys. Okay, so that really isn't all that remarkable. When was the last time you read a story about teenage girls participating in some lame ass, dangerous and stupid activity, not counting the 'pregnancy pact' of 2008 or anything related to Twilight. What female is going to go along with a "let's see how close we can get to burning our insides out" challenge. I'm guessing....not many.


I will admit as a young man, er, boy, I participated in a number of pretty darn dumb ideas. BB gun wars were one such idea. Gather all the guys from the neighborhood who own a bb gun and head off into the woods to shoot at each other. The one thing we never did was go to our moms and say "Hey, Mom. Me, Tommy and Dennis are meetin' up with a bunch of the guys and are going to shoot each other with bb guns until someone cries." Nope. Moms never knew, injuries were hidden and head shots forbidden...we were dumb but deceptive.


What I want to know is - is it the Y chromosome? Is it the testosterone and all the wonderful accoutrements that come with it? Or is it just the underdeveloped mind of a teenager?

13 comments:

Tabor said...

Testosterone has a lot to do with it...that energy has to go somewhere. I also think testosterone inhibits brain development...just sayin'

Shadow said...

i read a book about add and boys (can't remember the name) and they asked the same question, why boys do the (sometimes insane) things they do. and the answer was, to see what happens... would this be a correct assessment?

Elisabeth said...

I'd put it down to testosterone and a degree of inattention, mainly from fathers who might help to set a few limits, but even with the limits, 'boys will be boys'.

And thank goodness for that. Girls have a different way of expressing their angst and rebellion and it isn't always so pretty - gossip and bitchy cat fighting etc.

Brian Miller said...

one of these days i will grow up...i fight that urge each day...though i have gained a bit of wisdom along the way. hopefully...

the walking man said...

Teenagers, all teenagers, regardless of gender are living proof that there is other life out in the cosmos.

Long ago they came o the planet and commingled their DNA with human which is recessive until age twelve and puberty, then it becomes dominant until about age 20.

The male human teenager just does different bizarre stuff than the female but both are equally alien to adults.

Especially them who have forgotten what they were like as alien beings.

Anonymous said...

Not to be pessimistic of (God forbid) sexist, but a phsychiatrist friend and I were once sitting at a cafe in the French village where I live, observing teenage boys cavorting about on skateboards. I commented and she said "that isn't the problem," and pointed over her shoulder into the bar. "Testosterone and alcohol, now there's a lethal combination..." The Y chromosome - we do love it though.

Nessa said...

I don't think it's teenagers. I've seen grown men take this challenge.

PhilipH said...

Do some kids have a death wish? I saw today on tv that a new 'craze' has been adopted all over the UK by both girls and boys where they have choked to death!

Some traumatised parents who had no idea that this strangulation/choking thing was going on! I've never heard of it but hope now that more people know of this madness.

Unknown said...

I think that boys just are boys.
I did my fair share of stupid things though as a girl and woman, I think we're more subtle and stay under the radar with our stupid LOL!

BTW I had hotsauce in my 20's that was so effin' hot I swore I saw god, no kidding, it was hot...

Gabi

inappropriatesue said...

Growing up if for quitters :)

Marla said...

Now, let's be honest. The craziness does not end once the teen years are over. I have a husband, three boys and a son-in-law ... all grown men. They still scare me with their antics.

Also, I have yet to meet a girl or woman who delights in naming her body parts. Go figure!

Matty said...

This post really evokes memories. We shot each other with BB guns too. Why? I have no idea, other than boys will be boys.

Peter Stone said...

Hmm, good question. I'd wager a mix of testosterone plus the peer pressure thing.