He Built His Bird a Submarine
rope someone into something: to persuade or pressure someone into doing something they do not really want to do
Steven Lawyer loves to snorkel, and his parakeet Bebe loves to do whatever Steven does. Steven once planned a month-long trip, and he did not want to leave Bebe alone in a cage. So he solved the problem in the strangest way possible. The former physics major built his small bird a personal submarine.
He calls it the “Bebosphere.” It is a clear plastic tube with an oxygen meter and some small weights. Steven carried Bebe about three feet underwater in the Bahamas so the bird could watch the coral reefs while Steven snorkeled beside him.
In a video, Bebe sits calmly and stares at the sea. “He voluntarily went into the tube,” Steven says. “He’s intrigued.”
This was not Bebe’s first adventure. The same bird has gone skydiving 15 times. Each time, he sits in a clear bubble on Steven’s chest.
Not everyone finds this charming. Critics argue that Steven has roped his bird into adventures it never agreed to. A parakeet cannot say no. But Steven says they practiced at home in the sink first, and Bebe showed no fear. He says Bebe loves to do whatever the family does.
So who is right? Maybe Bebe is a brave little explorer. Or maybe he is just a calm bird in a plastic tube, waiting to go home.
Sample sentences
My sister roped me into running a marathon with her, and now I have to train every morning.
Somehow my neighbor roped me into watching her three cats for the whole weekend.
Don’t let them rope you into another long meeting when you have real work to do.
Origin
The expression comes from American cowboy life. To rope an animal means to catch it with a lasso and pull it in. The phrase took that image of catching and dragging something toward you and applied it to people.
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Man Creates Tiny Submarine for His Parakeet to Experience Life Underwater
