Title: Canadian Ground Fruit
Informant info: Informant Name: Michael Colon, Location: Hanover, NH, Date: 5/19/16, Dartmouth Student, male, Class of 2018, went on Hiking 1 trip and led Hiking 3 trip
Type of lore: Customary (Prank)
Language: English
Country of Origin: U.S.
Social / Cultural Context: Experienced during actual trip phase of first-year trips, generally in the wilderness with those on your trip.
Transcript: A classic prank to pull on your trippees is the “Canadian Groundfruit” prank. So the way my co-leader and I did it was we stopped to rest at a spot on the trail where we knew there was a slight bend coming up and my co-leader had the pineapple in her bag so she went ahead around the bend while the rest of us stayed put and she buried the pineapple in the ground along the path that we were going to take. We had told out trippees that you could recognize the fruit by the distinctive green leaves sticking up from the ground. So when she came back she told me where she had hid it and when we continued on our hike and we got the spot I stopped and was like “Oh wow, look I think that’s a Canadian ground fruit!” and we dug it up and cut it open and started eating it. There was this one kid from Maine who just didn’t buy it at all from the get go, he was like, “that is 100% a pineapple” and I kept trying to convince them otherwise, telling them they would feel really dumb when we got back and could look it up. I mean it is pretty obviously a pineapple, especially when you start cutting it open and eating it, but I stuck to my guns and kept telling them that I didn’t have service so I couldn’t look it up, but when I did they would feel really stupid. So eventually on the bus back to Hanover, I was half sleeping and they all woke me up and were like “you definitely have service now, look it up!” and I just said, “Why would I look it up, it’s obviously a pineapple.”
How did you learn about this prank and how to pull it off?
It was pulled on me by my trip leader and is sort of just a tradition. I feel like most people are pranked like this during the latter part of their trip. The way w
Is it always a pineapple?
I’ve never heard of it being done with any other fruit.
Informant’s comments: The purpose is purely recreational, we do it just to have a little fun with the trippees and maybe get a laugh/have a laugh at their expense. I suppose it helps with bonding, giving them a common experience to share in the future.
Collector’s comments: See overall comments on trips pranks
Tags/Keywords: Prank, Canadian Ground Fruit, Trips, Customary