“Hands across the water”

Cue the music!

I never much understood why people play pranks on sleeping people. I guess it’s funny, but it always seemed like too big of a karmic gamble to take.

One of these tricks is something that used to come up in crude, usually frat comedies. For a laugh, people take the victim’s hand and put it in a vessel containing water in hopes that they wet the bed (or couch or whatever). In the movies or TV shows, the person usually does.

When I asked the question of whether this works to real world people on facebook, there were mixed reactions. Some said it worked; some said it didn’t. I guess the Mythbusters debunked this phenonemon, so we’re all safe from this one.

But I really want to know where this myth started.

I can really only come up with one scenario that could have started this whole thing.

A person is sitting at their desk. They’re really bored at work, and use the time to work on their manicure.

As they’re soaking their fingers in liquid to soften cuticle, they fall asleep and have an accident. Then they’re dumb enough to tell their friends this happened.

Do you know the real story? (or feel free to make up your own.)