Facebook: Still the king of weird debates and ice cream name fights
For a platform that many consider to be on its way out, Facebook continues to surprise us with its ability to foster community and creativity. Whether it’s through debates over the anatomy of a loaf of bread, the name for a tricky scoop of ice cream, or discussions about modern social behaviors like phubbing, Facebook remains a space where language and imagination thrive.
By P Nagarjuna Rao
We all thought Facebook was passé, and that Reels and Instagram were where it’s at these days.
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But for a fuddy-duddy like me, who hasn’t progressed beyond creating an Instagram account (except for following a few known characters), Facebook still keeps me socially engaged.
Sure, I’m active on several WhatsApp groups, but they don’t hold the same appeal or offer the broad reach that Facebook does.
Besides, WhatsApp groups are limited to a certain number of people, forcing us to create A, B, and C teams of like-minded individuals. And within those groups, we inevitably form breakaway factions that exclude those who don’t share our sentiments or who take things too personally.
Returning to Facebook, one of the things I love is the little language teasers and posers that pop up in various groups, setting us on a chase to get the right answer with a sense of great achievement if we’re the first to nail it.
In one such group, I think it’s called ‘Mind Your Language,’ someone asked, “What are the end slices of a loaf of bread called?”
Was it an innocent question, posed with a genuine desire to learn, or was the person already well-informed and simply testing the rest of us?
Whether you answered “heel,” “crust,” or “butt,” it wouldn’t change the slice in question—but it sure enriches our vocabulary. Any of those names would be fine, but why “heel” or “butt”?
Whoever coined these terms for the bookends of a loaf could have easily stopped at “crust” or “end pieces” without venturing further down the human anatomy.
In India, where food is considered divine—“Annam parabrahma swarupam”—it’s a bit unsettling to call any part of bread by a term that refers to the backside or a part of the foot. Simply undigestable, I’d say.
But this isn’t the only quirky naming game you’ll find on Facebook. The platform has a knack for pulling us into playful linguistic puzzles that tickle the brain and provoke conversation.
Take, for instance, the question of what we call the loose change you find in the couch cushions. Some might call it “pocket money,” while others opt for “couch change.”
It’s a minor debate, perhaps, but one that can spark a surprising amount of engagement. After all, who hasn’t fished out a few forgotten coins from the depths of their sofa and pondered what to call that unexpected windfall?
Or consider the debate over what to call the first scoop of ice cream that’s just a little too hard to dig out. Some people call it the “iceberg,” referring to the sheer effort required to dislodge it, while others prefer the term “chisel chip,” evoking the image of a sculptor chipping away at a stubborn block of marble. It’s this sort of lighthearted banter that keeps us coming back to Facebook, even as newer platforms try to lure us away.
Then there’s the increasingly popular term “phubbing,” which has made its way into our daily vocabulary. Phubbing, a portmanteau of “phone” and “snubbing,” describes the act of ignoring someone in favor of scrolling through your phone.
It’s a term that perfectly captures a modern-day behavior, one that many of us are guilty of, whether we realize it or not. On Facebook, discussions around phubbing often spark lively debates about phone etiquette and the impact of technology on our social interactions.
It’s another example of how Facebook, far from being obsolete, still serves as a platform for engaging discussions on topics both serious and light.
What makes these language games so appealing is the way they invite us to see the world through a slightly different lens. They challenge us to think about the words we use and the meanings we attach to them.
In a world that sometimes feels overwhelmingly fast-paced and serious, these little puzzles offer a moment of respite—a chance to play with language, to laugh, and to connect with others over something as simple as the name for a piece of bread or the coins lost in a couch.
For a platform that many consider to be on its way out, Facebook continues to surprise us with its ability to foster community and creativity. Whether it’s through debates over the anatomy of a loaf of bread, the name for a tricky scoop of ice cream, or discussions about modern social behaviors like phubbing, Facebook remains a space where language and imagination thrive.
It’s the everyday language games and the shared chuckles that make Facebook a little less passé and a lot more fun. So, while the world rushes on to the next big thing, I’ll be here, happily engaging in the quirky, wordy delights that Facebook has to offer.
