Have You Seen This? Diver 'boops' great white's nose

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

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THE DEEP — We have all been booped on the nose and we've all booped someone. You know what I mean. You gently tap the end of another person's nose with your finger and with the most adorable face you can muster, you audibly say, "boop," even if you didn't mean to.

While it can look cute and affectionate to others, it can often feel demeaning. Let me explain.

Let's say a little brother is playing basketball in the driveway with an older brother. Despite the little brother's best efforts and a shirt drenched in sweat to prove it, he still lost 12 to zero, older brother doesn't rub it in his younger sibling's face. Rather, he tells him "good game" and then gets really close — closer than he was when he stuffed the basketball directly into little brother's face when little brother was driving to the hoop thinking he was about to finally score. And, as big brother is inches away from little brother's face, he sticks out his right index finger, taps the end of little brother's nose and says, "boop."

He then takes the ball and walks inside, locking the door behind him.

Is this a true story? That's irrelevant. But little brother felt a moment of camaraderie with older brother when he said "good game" and thought he was maybe coming in for a hug. Unfortunately, what he got was a boop on the nose and then got locked out. I mean, he probably felt that way. I wouldn't know by experience.

But, with the same amount of misplaced confidence of a little brother taking big brother on in a game of one-on-one — and with zero knowledge of marine biology — I make a prediction about why the great white shark in this video didn't attack.

In this video, multiple divers are following a great white shark, and it's a big one. The shark swims right up to the diver with the camera. When it's right in the diver's face, all the human does is basically boop the sea-based predator on the nose and send it in a different direction.

Some scholars and know-it-alls would tell you the shark had just fed and had no reason to attack because it wasn't hungry, but I think it's poppycock. The shark likely had a moment of, "Did that guy just boop my nose? If he did, he must mean business because now I don't feel quite so majestic. I mean, he booped me right in the nose and I even saw bubbles rise to the surface as he mouthed, 'boop.' I'll just go this way and avoid that guy. That guy's a jerk."