Stupid.
Goldfish Swallowing
Or reason No. 452 why you should never let your elders claim that kids were more mature "in their day." On March 3, 1939, Harvard freshman Lothrop Withington, Jr., touched off a firestorm of publicity – and imitators – when he swallowed a goldfish on a $10 bet. For the next three months, students sucked down goldfish in record numbers while every authority figure from the Massachusetts State Senate to the U.S. Public Health Service tried to get them to stop. The craze slowed down after many schools threatened to expel the fish eaters, but the stunt managed to remain popular enough to ensnare the next generation. The current world record, 300 fish in one sitting, was set in 1974.