Did suicide by cutting your throat with a straight razor used to be common?

[maggenpye]

Or a particularly British male way?

[Zsofia]

@Steve Wright

Robert FitzRoy (the captain of HMS Beagle, friend and later opponent of Charles Darwin) famously committed suicide by cutting his own throat with a razor in 1865. (Curiously enough, I find, he was a nephew of Lord Castlereagh, who also died by cutting his own throat, though Castlereagh used a letter opener).

Major General Orde Wingate, of Chindits fame, unsuccessfully attempted suicide by similar methods in 1941.

These were just two famous examples that sprang to my mind immediately … why do you think they’re called “cut-throat” razors?

Prolly 'cause the people making safety razors called them that, like how Edison tried to move the term “Westinghoused” for “electrocuted” into common parlance? (Wild guess, I really don’t know how old the term is.)

[Micro_Dot]

Cutting the neck is common on small farms to kill goats, lambs, etc., so in those days it would easily come to mind.

[Kevbo]

I have a couple of old straight razors. A well stroped * strait razor is wicked sharp. In use, they are used in a scraping maner. Any sort of slicing motion will result in a deep cut. Slitting your throat with one would be a matter of one quick motion with very little force required. Not that I’d do either, but I can see it as being easier than slitting my wrists.
*Straight razors were kept sharp by frequent honing on a leather strap (strop) impregnated with very fine abrasive. They were hollow ground (concave) with a very thick spine (the side of the blade opposite the cutting edge) this served to establish the angle of the cutting edge against the strop, so attaining a perfect edge was more or less automatic…though not quite as easy as old time barbers made it look.

[Beware_of_Doug]

@Zsofia

Prolly 'cause the people making safety razors called them that, like how Edison tried to move the term “Westinghoused” for “electrocuted” into common parlance? (Wild guess, I really don’t know how old the term is.)

Really wild guess, actually. Kinda implies the straight razor was invented by, I dunno, Thomas Cutthroat.

[robby]

@irishgirl

I’d rather treat someone who took 100 paracetamol (acetominophen) and really wanted to die, than someone who got drunk and high and ate everything they could find in the medicine chest because they thought dying might be quite a good idea at the time.

I thought that overdoses of acetaminophen (Tylenol) was a particularly bad choice for potential suicides and people making suicidal gestures because of the resultant liver damage if not promptly treated.

i.e. “We pumped your stomach and you’re going to live. Except your liver is shot and you need a liver transplant.”

The problem is that Tylenol has a reputation for being relatively innocuous and “safe”, so it’s a common choice for overdosing by teens making suicidal gestures. However, in high doses it can cause irreversible liver damage.

Cite.

[Steve_Wright]

@Beware of Doug

Could this be a particularly British way of offing oneself?

I dunno. I think it’s more likely that I know British history better than, say, American, so when I think of historical personages who’ve carved themselves up in this particular manner, I’m probably going to come up with British examples.

[Pushkin]

Too late to bump? If anyone wants a recent cite here’s one courtesy of the Beeb.