Wedgie
Forcibly pulling a person's underpants
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A wedgie is the act of forcibly pulling a person's underpants upwards from the back, thus forcing the fabric into the intergluteal cleft uncomfortably. The act is often performed as a school prank or a form of bullying.
Wedgies are commonly featured in popular works, either as a form of low comedy or as a behaviour representative of bullying. In such works, briefs are usually the type of underpants that are worn by the victim.[1][2]
The same term can also refer to the situation wherein any clothing worn over the buttocks randomly becomes wedged between them.[3]
Dangers
Wedgies, especially when performed on males, can be dangerous, potentially causing testicular or scrotal damage. An incident in 2004 involving a ten-year-old boy required reattachment of a testicle to the scrotum.[4]
Variations
There are various versions of the traditional wedgie that can be used as pranks or a form of bullying. It is impractical to list every variant, as the names and processes can be rather subjective; however, below are a few better-known variants of the wedgie.
- The melvin is a variant where the victim's underpants are pulled up from the front, to cause injury, or, at least, severe pain to the victim's genitals.[5]
- The atomic wedgie entails hoisting the waistband of the receiver's underwear up and over their head, which on at least one occasion has been lethal.[6]
- The hanging wedgie is where the victim is hung by their underpants, elevated above the ground.[7]
- The ripping wedgie involves the tearing of the victim's underpants, sometimes ripping off a portion of them (such as the waistband), or forcibly removing the garment entirely.[8]
See also
- List of practical joke topics
- Wedgies, a 2008 mini series-focused block on Cartoon Network
