"Go and watch a TikTok of someone unboxing a conker, and you'll almost certainly hear them call it nature's Labubu. Unboxing conkers? What on earth are you talking about? Oh wow, you really are out of the loop, aren't you? Gen Zers are taking to TikTok to film themselves unpeeling conkers from their spiky capsules. But why? Because of the sense of wonder!"
"You put a shoelace through the middle of them, and try to destroy everyone else's conkers. Wow, really? That's bizarre. Yeah. You'll have a much better chance of winning if you soak the conker in vinegar overnight and then bake it like a pie. Seriously? Seriously. And if you end up collecting too many conkers, you can hurl them across the playground and all the other kids will fight each other for them."
Conkers arrived in the UK 409 years ago and are now being shared on TikTok as unboxing videos where people call them 'nature's Labubu'. Gen Z films often show participants peeling conkers from spiky capsules and delighting in variations of size, shape and shine. Traditional play involves threading a shoelace through a conker and attempting to break opponents' conkers, with techniques like soaking in vinegar and baking to harden them. Schools banned conkers in some areas for health and safety concerns. The World Conker Championships receive royal attention, emphasizing both nostalgic tradition and contemporary online curiosity.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]