The Great Outdoors' Labubu: The Reason Gen Z Love Discovering Conkers?
Name: Conkers.
Age: Brought into the UK 409 years ago.
Look: The outdoor world's collectible doll.
No, I don’t think that’s right. Absolutely. Check out a TikTok video of someone revealing a conker, and you’ll probably hear them refer to it as “nature's Labubu”.
Opening up horse chestnuts? What on earth are you talking about? Oh wow, you really are not up to date, aren’t you? Gen Zers are using social platforms to film themselves unpeeling conkers from their prickly shells.
But why? Due to the sense of wonder! When you open up a conker, you can't predict what you’re going to get. Will it be big? Will it be flat? How shiny will it be? It is like a mystery box every time!
Do Labubu dolls share those traits? No, they’re vaguely hellish-looking dolls that have become highly sought-after because they also come in mystery boxes.
Would someone inform gen Z that they’re doing conkers wrong? Is that so? How do you do conkers, then?
Thread a lace through the center, and try to destroy everyone else’s conkers. Wow, really? That’s unusual.
Yeah. Your odds improve if you soak the conker in vinegar overnight and then heat it in the oven. You're not joking?
Seriously. And should you gather an excess, you can toss them in the schoolyard and all the other kids will compete to grab them. A beautiful, natural thing like a conker, and you use it as a weapon? A weapon that comes with a long set of arcane and bewildering rules?
That's the custom! The King recently awarded the World Conker Championships with three hundred horse chestnuts! At least gen Z is only filming them.
Why don’t you know this? Probably, because certain schools prohibited the game two decades ago, due to concerns over well-being.
Today's society always surprises. Maybe revealing horse chestnuts just isn’t your thing. In which case, perhaps you would be more interested in some other hot new youth fads.
Oh really? Like what? Well, there’s this thing called knitting, and something else called pottery that I can explain to you.
Those hobbies are ancient! Let me guess, you heat tools in apple drink and then use them to poke each other?
No! OK, calm down. I thought all old-people traditions involved violence in some form, after that conker thing.
I feel stressed. Take a breath. If you need me, I’ll be opening plant seeds online.
Do say: “Social media loves showcasing nut discoveries.”
What to avoid: “That's crazy.”
