Wedgie
A wedgie is the act of forcibly pulling a person's underpants upwards from the back, thus forcing the fabric between the buttocks 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 [citation needed].
The same term can also refer to the situation wherein any clothing worn over the buttocks randomly becomes wedged between them.
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.
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.
- 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.
- The hanging wedgie is where the victim is hung by their underpants, elevated above the ground.
- 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.
In popular culture
The word "wedgie" gained popularity in the novel series Captain Underpants, especially its 5th book, Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman.[citation needed]
See also
- List of practical joke topics
- Wedgies, a 2008 mini series-focused block on Cartoon Network
References
- ↑ Wedgie. Archived 2007-11-18 at the Wayback Machine The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Retrieved 30 November 2007 via Dictionary.com.
- ↑ No More Bullies, School Counselor Resources.
- ↑ Wedgie, WordReference.com Dictionary of English
- ↑ "Emergency operation after school prank". Yorkshire Post. 2004-12-02. Archived from the original on 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2021-03-15.
- ↑ Curran, David (4 January 2007). "Gwyneth And 'The Atomic Wedgie' / The attempt to prove the actress wrong after she slams American dinner party chatter is beyond a disaster". SFGate. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ↑ Stilwell, Blake (5 May 2023). "A Marine Veteran Was Sentenced to 30 Years for Killing His Stepfather with an Atomic Wedgie". Military.com. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
- ↑ Stuever, Hank (2 September 2002). "At School, a Most Uncomfortable Subject". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 13 April 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ↑ Harper, Shaun R. (2010). College Men and Masculinities Theory, Research, and Implications for Practice. Wiley. p. 270. ISBN 9780470448427.
External links
Media related to Wedgies at Wikimedia Commons
