Plathing

Let us take a moment and discuss what is PLATHING.

     According to Urban Dictionary, the definition of plathing is:

            “A new trend similar to planking in which one goes around and sticks his or her head in random ovens while a friend takes a photograph of the event. This is usually done in honor of the late poet, Sylvia Plath, who famously committed suicide by sticking her head in an oven. Hipsters do this to be ironic.”

         
      In the last 2 weeks I have come across this trend on 3 separate occasions. Jason first told me about it about 10 days ago when he stumbled across it on Twitter. He knows I enjoy Sylvia Plath so he wanted to talk to me about it, and was surprised I had never heard of it. I was abhorred at the thought of it. The second encounter was in a picture somewhere I can't recall. The third encounter was Saturday, where another picture was posted. This one was of a 1950’s housewife with her head in the oven. This was an ad for a British play, Absurd Person Singular, that is ongoing at the South Coast Repertory until Oct. 7th.
      Is it just me or is this appalling to anyone else? I just can’t fathom how this could be an homage to, or in honor of, Sylvia Plath. It is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. It would be like people all over the world posing with a plastic ear in one hand, a knife in the other, and a bloody head wrap to honor Van Gogh. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. 

      I write this because I think plathing is despicable and disgraceful and it pretty much just pisses me off. So, if you see anyone or hear of anyone doing this please knock some sense into them and tell them to stop being an idiot. 

     Oh and just for kicks, I found another slang term used in reference to plathing on www.dictionarydb.com and they define it as a verb. 

"It is The practice of being inwardly negative to the point where normal interaction becomes difficult. This particularly relates to feelings of insecurity and/or alienation. Inspired by the late poet/author Sylvia Plath. second definition: read writings by Sylvia Plath.”  Example used: "Sorry guys; I don't feel like going.  I'm totally plathing right now."

     I just thought I would share my negative opinion towards the idiosyncrasy phenomenon that is plathing. If you are interested in reading another post about Sylvia Plath you can check it out here

Cheers.