A graphic displays Bethel High School junior Josh Heyel’s Instagram profile. ODYSSEY Newsmagazine Lead Copy Editor Wyatt Meyer developed an interest in Heyel’s comments,all of which feature some variation of the word “Ploopy,” on the ODYSSEY’s posts. “I, along with my colleagues in the ODYSSEY, had watched with amusement as, in post after post, Josh left the same remark, with only occasional variations upon the nonsensical theme,” Meyer wrote. “Even after following Josh back and liking his comments from the ODYSSEY account, his attitude remained unchanged – and his words no less enigmatic.” Graphic by Wyatt Meyer
Lead Copy Editor Wyatt Meyer journeys to understand Bethel High School junior Josh Heyel – or, as you may know him, ‘Ploopy.’
I didn’t have any particular expectations when I called Josh Heyel of Bethel, Connecticut, at 7 p.m. on a Monday in the dying embers of April.
In fact, all I knew of Josh could be boiled down to one word: “Ploopy.”
For two months, Josh – or, as I knew him then, @joshheyel11 – had been commenting on nearly every ODYSSEY Newsmagazine Instagram post with that one seemingly innocuous word. Along with my colleagues in the ODYSSEY, I watched with amusement as Josh left the same remark in post after post, with only occasional variations upon the nonsensical theme.
Even after following Josh back and liking his comments from the ODYSSEY account, his attitude remained unchanged – and his words no less enigmatic.
“I went through a little phase of commenting ‘Ploopy’ on anything that had less than 200 likes,” Josh said. “About a month and a half ago, I happened to see a post with (Photography Editor Aza Khan) and it was something about SIPA (the Southern Interscholastic Press Association). I’m not sure what SIPA is, but it had (less than) 200 likes.”
I began to stay up late into the evening, tossing and turning in my bed, wondering. Who was Josh Heyel? An appreciative student journalist? A peculiar spam account? My long-lost brother?
Moreover, what was “Ploopy?” On its surface, it seemed to be a careless assortment of letters, picked randomly from life’s alphabet soup. But, the more I thought about it, the more profound “Ploopy” seemed to be.
Fair play to you, Josh, out there in Bethel. Your dedication to your one-of-a-kind craft is inspiring and an example to us all. I, as an aspiring “humor guy” myself, salute you.
After sleepless nights, I decided enough was enough. I would call Josh Heyel, this poet in cross country clothing, and get to the bottom of his confounding existence.
As it turns out, Josh Heyel is not the lionized lyricist I’d built up in my head. He’s not an attentive student journalist nor an obsessed ODYSSEY superfan.
He’s just, well, Josh.
Josh is a junior at Bethel High School in Bethel, a small town of 20,000 people in western Connecticut. He runs for his school’s track and cross country team. He’s part of his school’s Student Government Association and National Honor Society. He hopes his friends see him as extroverted and “a humor guy.”
As for Ploopy? To my chagrin, it wasn’t the universal answer I’d hoped it was.
Instead, Ploopy was a phrase spoken by Manny Heffley, a character in the popular children’s book series “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” Josh, in his infinite wisdom, became “hyper-fixated” on the term and incorporated it into his life.
A slideshow displays Bethel High School junior Josh Heyel’s history with the term ‘Ploopy,’ a word which he has commented on most of the ODYSSEY Newsmagazine’s posts in the last two months. Heyel incorporated ‘Ploopy’ into his lexicon after doing a computer science project on Manny Heffley, a character from popular children’s book series Diary of a Wimpy Kid, from which the phrase originates. “I became kind of hyper-fixated on the term ‘Ploopy’ for whatever reason,” Josh said. Graphic by Wyatt Meyer
“I went through a little phase of commenting ‘Ploopy’ on anything that had less than 200 likes,” Josh said. “About a month and a half ago, I happened to see a post with (Photography Editor Aza Khan) and it was something about SIPA (the Southern Interscholastic Press Association). I’m not sure what SIPA is, but it had (less than) 200 likes.”
It all made a kind of half-sense, and yet – why? Why return to the Instagram page of a student news publication over 1000 miles from your school to comment a little-known reference to a children’s book? Why relate this tale to your parents and friends, all of whom have as small a stake as you?
For this, Josh doesn’t know. He has no answer.
And, in a way, I respect that. Josh, fair play to you, out there in Bethel. Your dedication to your one-of-a-kind craft is inspiring and an example to us all. I, as an aspiring “humor guy” myself, salute you.
Though in some respects I’m left with more questions about you than the answers I’ve received, I think you’ve always known that, haven’t you? As such, I know nothing better to say than what you’ve typed out so many times.
Ploopy.
