# Did you ever call a "wedgie" a "snuggy"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 21, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168 "2009-08-21T04:54:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/1 "2009-08-21T04:54:46Z")
I’d never heard the term wedgie until I was about 14. We always called them snuggies, and every time I see a [Snuggie](https://www.getsnuggie.com/) display at the local Kroeger, I giggle. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/2 "2009-08-21T05:02:19Z")
Snuggy? That’s just silly. We called it by its proper name: Melvin. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/3 "2009-08-21T05:18:46Z")
No, never. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/4 "2009-08-21T06:08:53Z")
I hadn’t ever heard of wedgies until I was 25, under any name; it took moving to the US. The idea itself makes my head hurt; God knows the boys I used to take care of weren’t the sweetest pies in the shop but they would never have attacked each other like that, it would have been socially unacceptable even for the worst bullies. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/5 "2009-08-21T10:37:46Z")
Nope, never. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/6 "2009-08-21T17:02:16Z")
Never knew of a snuggie as anything but a brand of diapers. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/7 "2009-08-21T17:03:54Z")
Nope…when we were kids, in Green Bay, what is now called a “wedgie” was called a “grundy”. Unless you pulled the _front_ of the guy’s underwear up, at which point, it was called an “ooshma”. Seriously. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/8 "2009-08-21T18:03:45Z")
‘Snuggy’ is much too cute a moniker for such an unpleasant sensation. It’s been ‘wedgie’ since grade school for me. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/9 "2009-08-21T18:14:09Z")
Wedgie and atomic wedgie are the terms I know. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/10 "2009-08-21T20:15:59Z")
Waaay back in early grade school I believe we called them hinder-binders. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/11 "2009-08-21T21:02:04Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Nope…when we were kids, in Green Bay, what is now called a “wedgie” was called a “grundy”. Now that you mention it, I do seem to recall references to “grundie undies.” (Milwaukee, here.) ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/12 "2009-08-21T21:06:40Z")
Milhouse on _The Simpsons_ once referred to a certain type of wedgie as a ‘rear admiral’. I don’t know if the writers made it up but if it ain’t true it should be! ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/13 "2009-08-21T22:26:32Z")
To me it sounds like you’d you WEDGIE to describe a hostile act and SNUGGIE if it just happened with no malicious intent ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/14 "2009-08-21T23:00:00Z")
I do recall the term snuggie as well, although wedgie was far and away more popular. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/15 "2009-08-22T02:07:48Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > ‘Snuggy’ is much too cute a moniker for such an unpleasant sensation. It’s been ‘wedgie’ since grade school for me. I think the irony of the name was part of the charm. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/16 "2009-08-22T02:26:29Z")
The other night, I stumbled across something that noted that Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy are dating. That got me thinking about an ex- of his, Lauren Holly. [imdb.com](http://imdb.com) says she played Betty on a TV version of Archie (as in, the comic books). I was bouncing around the various characters (Reggie, Jughead, etc.) when I got to “Miss Grundy.” In our lexicon, a “grundy” was a wedgie from the side. A “binder” was a wedgie from the front. We never called it a “snuggy” or a “melvin.” So I looked up “grundy” on Wikipedia. Nada. Here’s wedgie: > **[Wedgie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedgie)** > > A wedgie is the act of forcibly pulling a person's underpants upwards from the back. 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. > Wedgies, especially when performed on males, can be dangerous, potentially causing testicular or scrotal damage. An incident in 2004 ... \*As a prank or form of bullying, there are a number of variants to the normal wedgie. It is wholly impractical to list every variant, as the names and processes are entirely subjective; however, there are a few better-known variants. The Melvin is a variant where the victim’s underwear is pulled up from the front, to cause injury to the victim’s genitals.[3] The atomic wedgie entails hoisting the waistband of the receiver’s underwear up and over their head.[3][4] The hanging wedgie is a variant in which the victim is hung from his or her underwear, elevated above the ground.[5]\* Also some interesting reading here: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_school\_pranks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_pranks) _Kancho is a prank often played out in Japan;[2] it is performed by clasping the hands together so the index fingers are pointing out and attempting to insert them sharply into someone’s anal region when the victim is not looking.[3] It is similar to the wedgie or a goosing, although the latter acts do not involve direct intimate physical contact. A Kancho is often executed simultaneously as the offending party expresses loudly “Kan-CHO!”_ ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/17 "2009-08-22T02:31:46Z")
Oh, I had to click on that link! > **[Kancho Project 人類カンチョー委員会](https://www.kancho.org/)** > > 日本の伝統文化「カンチョー」を始め、日本の性事情やエロについて世界に発信するウェブサイトです。 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/18 "2009-08-22T12:28:03Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Nope…when we were kids, in Green Bay, what is now called a “wedgie” was called a “grundy”. Unless you pulled the _front_ of the guy’s underwear up, at which point, it was called an “ooshma”. Seriously. 😛 I grew up in Green Bay, too… we used wedgie and grundy interchangeably. The only difference, perhaps, was that “Grundy” was a tad more vulgar. I guess “wedgie” was the polite term… if there is such a thing. Can’t say I’ve heard of “ooshma,” though. Male frontal wedgies were “melvins” in our household. ---
**Author:** ![rayman5321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@rayman5321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayman5321)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/19 "2009-08-22T16:27:33Z")
No ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168/20 "2009-08-22T17:39:36Z")
When I was in grade school ('70s) we called them “brownies”. In fact, I never even heard the term “wedgie” until I was a teenager (early '80s) and had moved to a different town. Similarly, where I grew up we never “gave him a swirly”; we just “flushed his head”. ETA: And I’m speaking the rhetorical sense here; I was far more likely to be the recipient of the aforementioned acts than the instigator. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-call-a-wedgie-a-snuggy/507168.md?page=2)