# A punch to the back of the neck is named after what animal?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 1, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463 "2012-02-01T21:26:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@smaje1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smaje1)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/1 "2012-02-01T21:26:19Z")
I was watching the Soup today – it was a tivo holdover from a couple of weeks ago, I think – and they showed a clip from an episode of Jeopardy! wherein the answer went something like this:
A punch to the back of the neck is commonly associated with what kind of animal?
And one guy answered “Donkey.”
The clip on the Soup was making fun of the guy for his answer.
But…umm…that’s totally the answer I would have given, too. Am I a total perv? What’s the correct answer?
I know I can easily do a search on this, but I’m interested to know how many Dopers know the right answer, and which Dopers are apparently utter pervs like me.
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### Author:  [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/2 "2012-02-01T21:28:00Z")
Rabbit.
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### Author:  [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/3 "2012-02-01T21:28:15Z")
It’s a rabbit punch. I learned this from Compton’s Encyclopedia back in my youth.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/4 "2012-02-01T21:28:21Z")
I’ve always referred to it as a rabbit punch, and so has the majority of the books I read where such a move is used.
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### Author:  [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/5 "2012-02-01T21:30:25Z")
I’ve never heard of a rabbit punch, but I’ve heard of a donkey punch, so count me in the perv column. Was the contestant unconsciously being a perv, or did he figure “I don’t know the answer, so I may as well get on The Soup?”
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/6 "2012-02-01T21:31:23Z")
I’d have said donkey and then thought immediately “oh crap isn’t that one of those fake sex things?”
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/7 "2012-02-01T21:32:31Z")
Hm. Shows what I know. I always thought a rabbit punch was a direct jab to the face.
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### Author:  [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/8 "2012-02-01T21:32:39Z")
> [@smaje1](#):
>
> Am I a total perv?
I don’t think a single Jeopardy question gives us sufficient information to make a decision on that.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/9 "2012-02-01T21:39:51Z")
I always thought a rabbit punch was a punch to the kidneys while in a clinch.
Learned something new today, I did.
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### Author:  [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/10 "2012-02-01T21:40:52Z")
I thought rabbits went for the kidneys too.
I’d have answered donkey without a second thought.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/11 "2012-02-01T21:44:41Z")
I learned about the existence of rabbit punches from the Top Secret roleplaying game; that was one of the deadlier options in melee combat. But I also went through life thinking it meant a punch to the kidneys, for some reason. I think I learned the true meaning of rabbit punching about a year ago.
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### Author:  [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/12 "2012-02-01T21:48:26Z")
With fear and trembling I ask, what is a donkey punch, and why does it make you a perv?
Regards,
Shodan
PS - I always called it a rabbit punch. That’s how rabbits are traditionally killed.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/13 "2012-02-01T21:52:06Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#):
>
> Rabbit.
Duck season.
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### Author:  [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/14 "2012-02-01T21:53:46Z")
Rabbit, I think I asked my Dad after watching Rocky
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/15 "2012-02-01T21:55:19Z")
It’s a rabbit punch. The only explanation I’ve heard is that rabbit punching is often a series of small rapid punches to the back of the head or neck, similar to a rabbit’s defensive motion with it’s rear feet if you grab it. That one sounds barely credible to me.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/16 "2012-02-01T21:55:44Z")
> [@Shodan](#):
>
> With fear and trembling I ask, what is a donkey punch, and why does it make you a perv?
I’ll direct you to [Urban Dictionary](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=donkey+punch), which is where I had to learn about it after _Robot Chicken_ used the term as the title of an episode.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/17 "2012-02-01T21:56:19Z")
> [@runner pat](#):
>
> Duck season.
If you duck, you won’t get hit with a rabbit punch.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/18 "2012-02-01T22:01:36Z")
A while back there was a similar double answer, with the initial selection being risque but “wrong”:
Alex: This term for a long-handled gardening tool can also mean an immoral pleasure seeker.
Ken Jennings: What is a hoe?
Alex: Woah… they teach you that in school in Utah?
Al: What is a rake?
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### Author:  [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/19 "2012-02-01T22:02:26Z")
Rabbit Punch. A sharp blow to the back of the neck.
A rabbit punch derives from the method used by gamekeepers to dispatch a rabbit which they have caught. Think of holding a rabbit in one hand and striking its neck with the edge of your other hand. The term appears to date from the 17th century but I haven’t accessed Oxford for the full etymology.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-punch-to-the-back-of-the-neck-is-named-after-what-animal/611463/20 "2012-02-01T22:07:59Z")
> [@Ken001](#):
>
> Rabbit Punch. A sharp blow to the back of the neck.
>
> A rabbit punch derives from the method used by gamekeepers to dispatch a rabbit which they have caught. Think of holding a rabbit in one hand and striking its neck with the edge of your other hand. The term appears to date from the 17th century but I haven’t accessed Oxford for the full etymology.
Thank you. That makes a lot more sense.
ETA: Maybe you could give us the donkey punch etymology also.
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