For some reason, underwater basket weaving is an activity that I have heard injected almost wherever humorously appropriate. It’s the oddest thing…I hear it from all sorts of different sources. Is anybody else wondering about this, or am I one piece of wicker short of a basket?
So in short, does this comedic phenomenon I am imagining exist, and if so, what is its origin and how is it so widely pervasive yet un-noticed?
Underwater Synchronized Basket Weaving, you mean?
I first heard the phrase, soon after underwater synchronized swimming (the best kind of synchronized swimming of course!) became an official Olympic sport.
Underwater basketweaving soon became a riff off of this, as a seemingly even sillier sport, (for those people in whose opinion synchronised swimming is silly).
It really could be anything prefixed by
underwater synchronized-- that does not seemingly belong underwater, i.e. cookie baking, but basket weaving is very innocuous and such a nonsequitar that it works very well.
This is all IMHO of course, as I have no cites to back it up.
Underwater basket weaving at Chico state. 
IMHO The phrase “underwater basket weaving” is used in order to say something is pointless, as in saying that someones major was underwater basket weaving, that it is a hobby, and not taken seriously, because there is no reason to weave baskets underwater, it can easily be down above water and there is no benefit of submerging yourself to make baskets. basket weaving is already not taken seriously, so making it underwater makes it even more of something funny
[q]Underwater basket weaving at Chico state. [/q]
Thanks. I did find that while googling, but I’m mostly interested about the nature of the phenomenon. It’s not like other national in-jokes like All Your Base where you’d hear someone say “Hey, you know that Underwater Basket Weaving joke everybody’s been making?”; instead, you merely hear people making the joke, often, but not in a barrage that would signify a sudden trend. I’m just fascinated by the subtle ubiquity of this meme.
Underwater basket weaving has always been the name of a fictional course that someone takes to boost their GPA.
Hey Bob are going to take a full load of Chemistry next quarter?
Naw, I gotta get my GPA up so I’m gonna take Underwater basket weaving next quarter.
The phrase has been around since IIRC, the 70’s as a name for a useless, easy, and esoteric college course. Right up there in the absurdist lexicon with the effect of gamma rays on man-in-the-moon-marigolds, sunspots, the phase of the moon, and the kitchen sink.
Basket weaving has been used as a name for a ficticious cake course for a long time. Although, I’m sure it’s offered at some fluffy liberal arts school somewhere.
The underwater element just takes it to the next level…something more preposterous, and therefore more humorous. As if here were a course numbered “BWV 201: Advanced Basket Weaving Techniques” in he course catalog.
I recall it from the 60s related to Miami U. It is/was underwater basket weaving.
Uh… I’m not a weaver, but I think most small project baskets are in fact woven underwater. The weaver’s hands hold the basket submerged in a tub of water to make the reeds malleable.
I think the origin of the phrase would be an undergrad looking to fill credits took a 100 level basket weaving course, saw the ‘underwater’ aspect as silly, and then engaded in a bit of hyperbole when describing the easy class.
Yeah, it’s just an American thang – not a joke per se, just a cultural reference. I hope you don’t mind my asking, but are you German perchance? You’re over-analysis of the mundane reminds me of a German co-worker I used to have who would analyze anything and everything that could not be literally construed or instantly understood.
I’m there with Squink.
During the eighties, “Underwater Basket Weaving” was extensively used at the university I attended to refer to any unflunkable elective that one would plug into one’s schedule to boost one’s GPA.
Slightly off-topic, but there is (or was) a Basketry merit badge in Boy Scouts. It was widely derided within Scouting as being a nothing badge, one that any idiot could pick up in a day to boost their badge count (and thus get promoted to the next rank of Scouting). I am apparently the only known person in Scouting ever to get an incomplete on it.
ISTR this phrase being used by sportscasters, particularly during college football games, as a joke about a player’s academic credentials.
BOB: “Joe Quarterback has a 3.9 GPA.”
FRED: “Yes, Bob, but did you know that last semester he took Underwater Basket Weaving?”
I’ve got the following cite from a newspaper in 1958 in my files:
I have no info currently whether there really was such a university course at that time, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
I heard the expression commonly used in college, 1962-66.
Actually, at USC (the one in LA, not in Carolina), we HAD underwater basket-weaving when I was there in the late 1970s. Sort of.
The swimming pool was in a large gym building dating from the 1940s. There were 2 or 3 levels of dingy dungeon-like classrooms in the basement directly beneath the pool.
The Art department had inherited these dismal spaces as “studios” for the budding artistes and for regular students taking that one mandatory easy elective from the Liberal Arts catalog.
Basket weaving was one of the courses taught down there beneath the pool. It was dry, but you were directly under the water. Like I said: sort-of.
Being as LA is in the Southwest where Indians, er, Native Americans (oops) roamed not 150 years ago, there was some local interest in such handicrafts. So the class was pretty popular, especially with us hard-science / engineering types.
Scout’s Honor.
I’ve also heard the term (and this is the definition with which I’m most familiar) used to refer to required courses that have nothing to do with one’s area of study. For example, a Philosophy class for Physical Education majors.
I seem to remember that one of the selling points of “trade” schools and “business” schools is that they have programs of study that only require classes that are relevant to your desired diploma. You can get your degree in two years, instead of four, because they cut out all the Underwater Basket Weaving.
I dunno if any of you have ever tried to weave a basket, but it’s actually quite tricky.
I also believe there is a real practice at the bottom of all this. My grandfather used to “cane” chairs, and I remember him soaking something to do it (until he started to use cheesy fake plastic split cane in the '70’s).
when i was in boy scouts, one of the activities offered at my camp was underwater BB stacking.
While this phrase has become synonymous with “useless”, “underwater basket weaving” refers to the making of baskets out of URL=http://www.alaskafurexchange.com/bbaskets.shtml]baleen by the eskimo people. Baleen is the substance inside the whale’s mouth that is used to filter plankton. While it is pliable under water, once dried it becomes rigid and unworkable. Baleen baskets are stunning pieces and very expensive.
Common wisdom is not always the answer, folks. Cecil would be ashamed of you all.