Wedgie
The wedgie is a joke maneuver or prank performed to humiliate someone. It is inflicted when an individual, or group of individuals, grab the underwear of the victim from behind and pull up, causing the underwear to wedge between the buttocks. A wedgie could also mean when a person's undergarments get folded up and 'ride up' between the buttocks, causing discomfort and annoyance. Can be caused by bad posture, awkward sitting or tight underpants such as thongs. Special varieties of the wedgie include the melvin (a frontal wedgie) and the atomic wedgie performed by pulling the underpants over the head of the victim from the back.
Other Uses
A wedgie may also be defined as a type of sandwich often served at pizza parlours and some Italian restaurants. Most commonly a Wedgie sandwich consists of two pieces of bread similar to pizza crusts that contain different meats and italian sauces. This could be considered a rough variation between a pizza and a calzone.
Wedgie is also a nickname used by Recumbent bicycle riders for an upright Bicycle. It is also a name for a women's shoe.
Popular Culture
- In the animated cartoon on Cartoon Network The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, there is a bully who often gives wedgies to children.
- In the animated show, The Mask, the main hero also used atomic wedgies as a weapon against his enemies, especially on Police Lt. Kellaway and his partner Doyle. This was taken from a scene in the movie where he did it to a gang leader.
- In Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman there is one villain that gives wedgies, known as Wedgie Woman
- The "atomic wedgie" variation in particular, is a major plot device in the Seinfeld episode The Library.
- In Bill And Ted's Bogus Journey, Bill and Ted melvin Death to escape from him.
- In MTV's Beavis and Butthead episode "Stewart's House", Stewart is given an Atomic Wedgie, which included a cactus, rubbing alcohol and an electric mixer down the back of Stewart's wedgied tighty-whities.
- The Nickelodeon show Salute Your Shorts used the word melvin regularly to refer to the frontal wedgie, or when the underwear is pulled from the front.