If you want to catch someone off guard, I think a good idea would be to show up to meet them soaking wet on a non-rainy day and then interrupt, change the subject, or evade the question if they ask how you got that way.
People tend to think that someone needs to have a good reason to be very wet and become obsessed when they can’t find an obvious one. They’ll rarely guess that their obsession is, in the fact, the reason.
I don’t think this applies particularly strongly to being wet… it applies to anything that people rarely do voluntarily:
– turning up bleeding
– turning up smelling like you’ve just poured a bottle of vodka down your pants
– turning up in outlandish clothing, especially clothing of the wrong gender
– turning up the wrong colour
I found this great powder once that turned my face purple. Everyone reacted really strongly.
I see a distinction between all of those and turning up wet. Turning up wet has the added advantage of not just being abnormal but also for being extremely confusing.
Turning up bleeding does more than pique people’s curiousity — it encourages some sort of ‘help me’ routine in them; it also implies an accident. Smelling like you pour vodka down your pants implies alcohalism. Having a man turn up in women’s clothing will imply a fetish or a penchant for transvestitism or a life-style choice.
Turning up wet on a dry day implies something that is probably accident, but it’s not entirely clear what that something is. It’s the looking for answer that takes up people’s cycles, not the waves of disgust. I think it is here that the appeal lies.
I don’t mean to imply that turning up wet is unique. I think you’ve made a very good point. I do think turning up purple is pretty much the in the same ballpark. :)