Over the the past 24 hours or so, you’ve probably noticed a lot of people on social media posting pictures or videos of them standing their brooms straight up on their bristles.
The broom challenge sweeping the internet, explained
Spoiler alert: your broom will stand up any day that you try to make it stand.
Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images
It all started with this viral tweet, which claimed that NASA said that it was the only day (Feb. 10) that it could happen.
That’s not true. Your broom is going to be just as interesting on whatever day you might end up reading this post as it would be on Feb. 10 of any given year.
Either way, people are getting a gigantic kick out of their broom standing up by itself.
Then there’s my favorite people on the internet, the ones who take things to the next level. There’s this guy, doing New Edition’s “If It Isn’t Love” with his broom:
And this chicken wing:
Despite this being an internet hoax, people will continue to try to make their brooms stand on end, and that’s fine. The broom challenge isn’t anything new; people have been doing this every few years for almost the past decade online. Here’s CNN taking a break from election coverage in 2012 to explain it:
But some find fun in the challenge, and people should have fun on the internet even if it is pretty dumb!
Many things people find good or fun online get recycled. Sometimes that’s for likes or retweets. Sometimes it’s just because somebody hasn’t seen something, and that’s OK.
One of the best and most recent examples of this is this video of Marvin Gaye singing “Heard It Through The Grapevine” with isolated vocals. You’ll be shocked to find out that this sounds amazing (you won’t be):
That pops up onto the timeline at least every 6-8 months now. At least. So next time the broom challenge comes around, you’ll know the deal if you didn’t already.
And if you got your broom out, sweep your nasty-ass floors.
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