# Mobile Phones Shoved Up Asses **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 8, 2006, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894 "2006-09-08T12:03:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/1 "2006-09-08T12:03:10Z")
No, not an outbreak of commuter rage - this [Slate Explainer](http://www.slate.com/id/2149180/) links to the original story, according to which four Salvadoran prison inmates were concealing four phones, nine phone chips and a charger between them in their anal cavities. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/2 "2006-09-08T13:54:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Large objects can become stuck, especially if they create a vacuum seal against the walls of the colon. Back in 1934, a doctor named H.G. Pretty described an attempt to remove a recalcitrant ink bottle. It would seem that communications tools are always favourite to be stored in this location. Perhaps, in the time of Gilgamesh of Sumer, there were people walking around with clay tablets concealed in their rectums. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/3 "2006-09-08T15:32:52Z")
First time I ever heard of prisoners concealing stuff like that was in _Papillon_. And the inserted storage devices were called _chargers_. Circle of life. Download some ringtone Contraband. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/4 "2006-09-08T15:41:08Z")
> [@](#): > > First time I ever heard of prisoners concealing stuff like that was in Papillon. And the inserted storage devices were called chargers. ??? When I read Henri Charrier’s book they called the container for what they were hiding a _plan_. I don’t recall them naming them in the Steve McQueen/Dustin Hoffman movie. I never heard or read of them being called _chargers_. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/5 "2006-09-08T15:57:31Z")
Did a fax come out? [/Lewis Black] ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/6 "2006-09-08T16:07:55Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] When I read Henri Charrier’s book they called the container for what they were hiding a _plan_. I don’t recall them naming them in the Steve McQueen/Dustin Hoffman movie. I never heard or read of them being called _chargers_. [/QUOTE] How strange. I read the book years ago. I distinctly recall these devices being called _chargers_ and cannot recall any reference to a _plan_. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/7 "2006-09-08T16:09:04Z")
Kinda gives a whole new definition to “mobile” doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/8 "2006-09-08T16:26:31Z")
And here I thought this thread was going to be about the diatribe at 115dB spl spouting assholes in the resteraunt. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/9 "2006-09-08T16:29:51Z")
I wonder if they were caught because they had the ringer set to fuhr elise. Or maybe set to vibrate, while jammed up against the prostate. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/10 "2006-09-08T16:31:46Z")
"‘ere Spike can I borrow your phone?’ “sure but you’ll have to…” “ok I’ll ask around” ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/11 "2006-09-08T16:34:35Z")
[QUOTE=ColonelDax] a charger between them in their anal cavities. [/QUOTE] You’d think the guards would have noticed that they were always standing with their butts together… ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/12 "2006-09-08T16:38:01Z")
See, they’d’ve never been caught if they’d’ve downloaded custom ring-tones that sounded like gerbils … ---
**Author:** ![Firebringer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@Firebringer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Firebringer)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/13 "2006-09-08T17:12:24Z")
Hmmm… Maybe that explains why so many people talk out their ass and others simply talk shit. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/14 "2006-09-08T17:24:23Z")
So cell phones are for assholes? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/15 "2006-09-08T17:29:44Z")
From this site: > **[People Inc. - America's Largest Digital & Print Publisher](https://www.people.inc/)** > > People Inc. is owned by People Incorporated, formerly IAC. Learn more about IAC’s transition… > [@](#): > > Charrière endured a brief stay at a prison in Caen. As soon as Charrière boarded the vessel bound for South America, he learned about the brutal life that prisoners must endure. Murders were not uncommon among convicts. Men were cut into by makeshift knives for their plan (a hollow, metal cylinder containing money that is lodged in the colon. It has also been called a charger). Charrière befriended a former banker convicted of counterfeiting money named Louis Dega. He agreed to protect Dega from those seeking to murder him for his plan. The same quote is in the Wikipedia article: > **[Papillon (book)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papillon_(book))** > > Papillon (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}French: \[papijɔ̃\] ⓘ, lit. "butterfly") is a novel written by Henri Charrière, first published in France on 30 April 1969. Papillon is Charrière's nickname. The novel supposedly details Papillon's incarceration and subsequent escape from the French penal colony of French Guiana, and covers Th... I only recall _plan_ being used, and being used more than once. This site (The Papillion Quiz!): [http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz.cfm?qid=38774](http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz.cfm?qid=38774) ..only uses the word _plan_, not _charger_. This site only has “Charger”: > **[Henri Charriere Forum](https://www.gnooks.com/discussion/henri+charriere.html)** as does this one: [http://www.roadjunky.com/greats/papillon.shtml](http://www.roadjunky.com/greats/papillon.shtml) Maybe there’s more than one translation out there. Patrick O’Brian (Aubrey! Maturin!) apparently did one. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/16 "2006-09-08T17:32:03Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] ??? When I read Henri Charrier’s book they called the container for what they were hiding a _plan_. I don’t recall them naming them in the Steve McQueen/Dustin Hoffman movie. I never heard or read of them being called _chargers_. [/QUOTE] An odd way to find differences in translations, but there it is. (see [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papillon_(film))). ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2006, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/17 "2006-10-13T15:44:22Z")
Well, of course they had chargers! How else did they expect to keep the cell phone batteries alive? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/18 "2006-10-13T15:58:13Z")
_Pictures prisoner walking around stiffly with his butt jutting out behind him as far as he can extend it._ Prisoner#2: “What the hell’s the matter with you…?” Prisoner#1: “I can only get 2 bars…” ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/19 "2006-10-13T16:07:56Z")
Can you hear me now? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894/20 "2006-10-13T16:27:11Z")
Their ringtone is _Moon River._ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mobile-phones-shoved-up-asses/371894.md?page=2)