# Are necks really that fragile? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-necks-really-that-fragile/543415 "2010-06-16T14:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-necks-really-that-fragile/543415/21 "2010-06-21T21:26:51Z")
What if the Hollywood ninja guy grabs the victim’s hair (this particular corpse-to-be is sporting a nice ponytail) and knees him really hard in the small of his back? ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-necks-really-that-fragile/543415/22 "2010-06-22T00:00:24Z")
Thank you toodlepip. Somehow I missed those. I’m getting better at searching though–but there’s always so many other interesting things to distract --Look! a squirrel! 🙂 @Mr. Excellent: Sure. But if you’re determined enough… (I’m thinking people who committed seppuku/hara kiri as role models for someone deciding that a little pain wouldn’t stop them from killing themselves.) ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-necks-really-that-fragile/543415/23 "2010-06-22T15:39:32Z")
> [@Lare](#): > > I’m thinking people who committed seppuku/hara kiri as role models for someone deciding that a little pain wouldn’t stop them from killing themselves. 1.) There’s probably a world of difference between stabbing and slicing with a sharp knife and torquing your own head around hard enough and far enough to snap it. 2.) It’s my understanding that it would have been pretty unusual for someone to completely disembowel himself and then slowly die that way. I think usually he’d make the initial stab or so, and then somebody else would lop his head off. ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-necks-really-that-fragile/543415/24 "2010-06-23T14:55:14Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > 1.) There’s probably a world of difference between stabbing and slicing with a sharp knife and torquing your own head around hard enough and far enough to snap it. > > 2.) It’s my understanding that it would have been pretty unusual for someone to completely disembowel himself and then slowly die that way. I think usually he’d make the initial stab or so, and then somebody else would lop his head off. 1. Still, if I really, really, really want to go… Which was one of the reasons why I initially questioned the technique As Seen On TV. It seemed that there was a quick, painless way to commit suicide. Now, of course, I understand that it isn’t quite that easy, simple, or painless. Darn you, writers of fiction! 2. Mine too. If you were regarded well enough. If not, they might let you go for a while. It was a mark of honor not to cry out in pain and beheading by your second kept you from having to tolerate long, drawn out agony. At least, according to James Clavell’s book “Shogun” and from what I was told by a couple of my friends who studied iaido (Japanese swordsmanship). Granted, they were parroting what their teachers told _them_ so I can’t guarantee the cite. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-necks-really-that-fragile/543415/25 "2010-06-23T15:39:39Z")
> [@Lare](#): > > At least, according to James Clavell’s book “Shogun” IIRC, \*Shogun \*is definitely \*\*not \*\*100% historically accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-necks-really-that-fragile/543415/26 "2010-06-23T18:11:19Z")
Oh probably not, but I enjoyed it and learned several Japanese words. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-necks-really-that-fragile/543415/27 "2010-06-23T20:16:34Z")
Again, IIRC, his Japanese wasn’t that hot, either. Although the errors might have been more on the morphosyntactic than lexical end. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-necks-really-that-fragile/543415.md?page=1)