Getting Iced

Getting Iced is a drinking ritual where, if an individual is presented with a bottle of Smirnoff Ice, he (or, sometimes, she) is required to to drop to one knee and chug the entire bottle, no matter what the situation. 

“Icing” is a common prank among college students. It’s generally tradition to “Ice” someone in some kind of unexpected or surprising way, or at an incredibly inconvenient time or place, such as in a public place or at 7 in the morning. It’s usually done amongst young men, specifically “bros”, and a “bro” is honor-bound to drink the Smirnoff when he is Iced. My informant, and myself as a college student, have seen many a bro get iced, and never seen anyone refuse. It would be unthinkable.

My informant told me that, when his best friend, who graduated last year, was taking his last final of college, all of his friends planned a huge Ice for him. Eight of them spread out along the path from his friend’s dorm to where he was taking his final. As he walked to the classroom, one at a time, his friends would spring out along the way and Ice him. Every single time, he dropped and chugged the bottle. By the time he got to the final, he was practically falling over from being drunk.

No one really knows where exactly “Icing” came from, but part of the point is that a Smirnoff Ice is considered a very girly, lame drink, that no self-respecting man should drink. Icing turns the “girliness” of it into a test of manliness. It’s often used by fraternity brothers as a form of hazing. Although girls can Ice others be Iced (and are held to the same Icing standards as everyone else) it’s usually something done to guys by other guys.