# What are the fake rocks all about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2022, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554 "2022-06-21T13:22:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/41 "2022-06-22T15:49:20Z")
The biggest fake rock I can think of (technically it’s a fake mountain I guess): [![](https://www.metaflix.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/hwai6klwr1y51.png) ](https://www.metaflix.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/hwai6klwr1y51.png) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/42 "2022-06-22T16:00:15Z")
If you look closely at the picture I posted you can see that the ball is carried by a jet of water that comes from below, there is a cushion of perhaps 1 mm or less on which the ball floats in a mould. And evidently you can easily move and turn it one way or another but not roll it out of the mould. I moved several tonnes with one hand! …until the security guard\* came and asked what the \*#% I was doing. Then I told him to move the stone. He looked funny, then did it, and smiled. Those balls of solid stone on a water cushion are popular in Germany, from small for indoors up to 5 or 6 feet in diameter in front of public buildings. You don’t have them in the USA? \* Just to be clear: A security guard is not armed or dangerous here. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/43 "2022-06-22T16:12:08Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > You don’t have them in the USA? Henry Doorly Zoo in boring flyover Omaha, Nebraska has one. [https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm8EX9\_Kugel\_Ball\_Henry\_Doorly\_Zoo\_Omaha\_Nebraska](https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm8EX9_Kugel_Ball_Henry_Doorly_Zoo_Omaha_Nebraska) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/44 "2022-06-22T16:13:48Z")
You call them Kugel Ball? That’s funny: Kugel is German for ball. A ball ball. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/45 "2022-06-22T16:16:07Z")
I just call them “cool”. That link was the first link google found relevant to the specific installion I mentioned. I doubt the contributor of that [waymarking.com](http://waymarking.com) entry named it authoritatively. I don’t know what the zoo calls it. ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/46 "2022-06-22T16:20:22Z")
Cool, that was good! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/47 "2022-06-22T16:21:36Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Kugel is German for ball. My mom used to make a noodle pudding type dish called kugel. There were no balls in it, though. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/48 "2022-06-22T16:32:57Z")
Too late to edit my prior post, but I note that your own link labels the object in question “kugelbrunnen” so at least one German word for it includes “ball”. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/49 "2022-06-22T16:47:49Z")
Yes, of course: Brunnen means fountain, so a Kugelbrunnen is a “ball fountain”. Which comes quite close to what it actually is. > [@kayaker](#): > > My mom used to make a noodle pudding type dish called kugel. There were no balls in it, though. Sounds like a Yiddish culinary/linguistic corruption of [Knödel or Kloß](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kn%C3%B6del), which are balls. Can be sweet or salty, mostly yummy. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/50 "2022-06-22T17:06:51Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Brunnen means fountain, so a Kugelbrunnen is a “ball fountain”. Which comes quite close to what it actually is. Yeah, “kugel ball” sounds like a half-assed mistranslation (or non-translation) that accidentally latched onto the wrong part of the original phrase. I’ve never seen that goofy name in use (like I said, I have never identified the object in question by any particular name), but at least that submitter did. I would not overgeneralize one example to “lol, dumbass Americans call it ‘ball ball’”. Because I am a dumbass American who doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/51 "2022-06-22T17:21:36Z")
I thought it was funny, but I did not mean Americans are dumbasses because of that. I recently learned on this board that the brown bear is called _Ursus arcticus_ which means Bear bear (1st Latin, 2nd Greek). That is funny too, but it does not mean that Linneaus is a dumbass. So I apologize if my comment came across as belittling you or Americans in general. I wonder though if you did not use the searchphrase “kugel ball” how you managed to find a picture of it. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/52 "2022-06-22T17:25:13Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I wonder though if you did not use the searchphrase “kugel ball” how you managed to find a picture of it. My search phase was “henry doorly zoo water globe” and I selected the second image match, since it was the first image taken with enough context to be sure it was the installation at that zoo. (The text matches did not address the globe at all.) So, sorry to disappoint, I did not search for that dumbass phrase. It was serendipity. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/53 "2022-06-22T17:27:22Z")
Not disappointed at all, I think that was cool! \< / hijack \> ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/54 "2022-06-22T18:00:04Z")
Hey, _Target_ has big red balls in front of the store. I doubt they are naturally occurring. That would be cool if it was, tho’. This has really pinged Son-of-a-wreks, curiousity. DIL says he stopping at every one he sees and is investigating. He got run off at Burger King. And text me: “Remember when I told you of the tiny spheres on the Moon surface?” I didn’t respond. Then I got “Just you think about that!” What have I done? That boy ain’t right. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/55 "2022-06-22T18:11:38Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > until the security guard\* came and asked what the \*#% I was doing > > … > > You don’t have them in the USA? Not only do we have them in the US, but people spinning them is the _point_ of having them, so nobody would be confused by it. Here is the one that I’m familiar with: [https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm8KPZ\_Ripleys\_Kugel\_Ball\_Myrtle\_Beach\_SC](https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm8KPZ_Ripleys_Kugel_Ball_Myrtle_Beach_SC) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/56 "2022-06-22T18:12:04Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > > [@kayaker](#): > > > > My mom used to make a noodle pudding type dish called kugel. There were no balls in it, though. > > Sounds like a Yiddish culinary/linguistic corruption of [Knödel or Kloß](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kn%C3%B6del), which are balls. Can be sweet or salty, mostly yummy. Ashkenazi noodle kugel doesn’t involve anything shaped like balls. At least, not the way my grandparents made it (or the way I do, for that matter.) Wide noodles, eggs, raisins, a bit of sugar but not very sweet; mix in a casserole dish and bake. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/57 "2022-06-22T18:18:01Z")
There’s a house a few miles from me that has one of those balls atop a pedestal near the front entrance. The water usually isn’t going, though. When it is, you can see the heavy stone ball rotating from the way the irregular coloration and layering changes. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/58 "2022-06-22T18:20:31Z")
This is getting curiouser and curiouser. There’s those Diquis Spheres in Costa Rica. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/59 "2022-06-22T18:24:08Z")
For whatever it’s worth, wikipedia uses the name [Kugel fountain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kugel_fountain), while noting that they are also called “kugel balls.” No citation is given for the authority of that name. The list in the article shows a great many of them in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2022, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554/60 "2022-06-22T18:39:22Z")
[From here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kugel#Etymology): > [@](#): > > The name of the dish comes from the [Middle High German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_High_German) _kugel_ meaning ‘sphere, globe, ball’; thus the Yiddish name likely originated as a reference to the round, puffed-up shape of the original dishes (compare to [German](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language) _[Gugelhupf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gugelhupf)_—a type of ring-shaped cake). However, nowadays kugel is often baked in square pans. Never seen it anything but square or rectangular pans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-fake-rocks-all-about/966554.md?page=4)