If your parents ever said that watching cartoons is a waste of time, here's the perfect response: it may just save someone's life one day.

Miriam Starobin saved her "BFF" Allyson Golden from choking by using the Heimlich maneuver she saw on and episode of SpongeBob SquarePants:

"Allyson was chewing gum, which she shouldn't have been," Miriam recalled today in a mock tattletale voice during an interview in the principal's office. "We were laughing, and then the gum gets lodged in Ally's throat. And she stopped laughing, which was weird because Ally laughs a lot."

That's when Miriam says she recalled an episode of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon, where she believes she saw SpongeBob use the Heimlich maneuver to retrieve a clarinet lodged in the throat of another character, Squidward.

"And I get her up and I do the Heimlich and the gum goes flying out of her mouth," she said.

Allyson, who pleads guilty to chewing a wad of Trident Original Flavor, realized almost immediately what her friend had done. "I gave her the biggest hug, and I was like, 'Miriam you just saved my life. I owe you big time.' And she's just, 'Oh, no, it was no big deal.'"

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Previously on Neatorama: 10 Neat Facts About SpongeBob SquarePants