Tag Archives: drinking game

Getting Iced

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English

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.

Never Have I Ever Game

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Toledo, Ohio
Performance Date: 4/10/11
Primary Language: English

The informant is a 19 year old Filipino female. She lives with her mother in Toledo, Ohio and has one older sister. She was raised Roman Catholic. She is currently a student at a university in Southern California. The informant is the co-president of the club volleyball team at her university.

“Never Have I Ever” is a game the informant learned freshman year in high school. In her experience it is most commonly associated with alcohol, although it is not necessary. Its main purpose is to a “get to know you” game. Although she first learned it in the context of parties, now she most often plays it with her volleyball team, mostly at the beginning of the season to get to know new team members. It lets people get to know each other by making public what the players have and haven’t done. Most commonly, the game revolves around sexual exploits, dating, drinking, etc. When alcohol is incorporated, players can either drink if they have or haven’t done something. The informant has played it with both rules. Similarly, at different times she has played it the winner has been designated by the person who keeps up the most fingers or who puts them all down first.

Rules: Each player puts up all of their ten fingers. Going around in a circle, each player names an action that they have never done, phrasing it “never have I ever …….” If anyone playing has committed the action they have to place one finger down. The players continue around until all of the player except one have had to put down all of their fingers.

Analysis: “Never Have I Ever” is an interesting example of the negotiation of culturally excepted female behavior. In modern society, female promiscuity and such behavior is highly stigmatized. Bragging, or even blatant sharing, of social or sexual exploits is still somewhat frowned upon. This game provides an outlet for females to share their experiences without having to explicitly state them; they only have to reveal if another player brings it up. It is also a way in which female players can gauge how experienced there in comparison to others. But at the same time the game itself does not completely de-stigmatize such actions. There is ambiguity to whether it is more acceptable to be the one with the most fingers up or the most down. There is no clear designation as to which state is dubbed the winner or loser.

Annotation: Shepard, Sara. Never Have I Ever. New York: HarperTeen, 2011.