# Neck Cord **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 8, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148 "2012-04-08T03:08:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/1 "2012-04-08T03:08:46Z")
What’s the device that movie stars use to decapitate someone? The device is a long string - a really thin string that slices through flesh like butter. What’s it called? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/2 "2012-04-08T03:09:55Z")
[Garrote](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrote) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/3 "2012-04-08T03:11:38Z")
I see it’s mentioned in the linked wiki articled, I most often see it referred to as piano or music wire. That’s likely what you would find it as if you saw it at a hardware or arts and crafts store. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/4 "2012-04-08T03:52:06Z")
Movie stars are given to decapitating people?! :eek::eek::eek: ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/5 "2012-04-08T03:55:26Z")
> [@IceQube](#): > > What’s the device that movie stars use to decapitate someone? Come on, name names! ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/6 "2012-04-08T05:03:42Z")
Need answer fast! ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/7 "2012-04-08T05:17:18Z")
Hey, those studio guys are dicks, y’know? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/8 "2012-04-08T05:30:38Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Come on, name names! Nicholas Cage. I mean, it’s a reasonable assumption. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/9 "2012-04-08T15:37:38Z")
> [@IceQube](#): > > What’s the device that movie stars use to decapitate someone? The device is a long string - a really thin string that slices through flesh like butter. What’s it called? A [prop?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatrical_property) ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/10 "2012-04-08T20:08:15Z")
huh, I remember a book I read (late 70s or early 80s, I guess) that had a character of a hard-bitten marine Colour Sergeant, who was incredibly dismissive of using piano/cheese wire for a garrote - the risk of removing the head (and consequently having a steel helmet clang on a metal deck) was too high. As you might expect, following a betrayal the Colour Sergeant was garrotted, with a cheesewire. Si ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/11 "2012-04-09T16:08:24Z")
FWIW, the references to cheesewire remind of a friend of mine who is an avid baker; he uses dental floss to slice a cheesecake. Unused dental floss, of course, but it still seems a little disconcerting to me. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/12 "2012-04-09T16:30:35Z")
Is it necessary to point out that no actual garrotte will cut through flesh like butter? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/13 "2012-04-09T17:11:15Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > Is it necessary to point out that no actual garrotte will cut through flesh like butter? Apparently so. Cheese is pretty soft stuff, and so a thin wire will slice through it with modest effort. But it takes a good sharp-edged knife and some sawing action to cut through a hunk of raw meat the size of a human neck. And it takes a bit of dedication to cut through the cervical spine with that knife, too; a piece of piano wire ain’t gonna do it. The only wires that are simultaneously small enough and strong enough to cut through flesh and bone like a knife are fictional. The two I’ve seen are the molecular-wire weapon used in [Johnny Mnemonic,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Mnemonic) and [shigawire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigawire#S) from the Dune universe. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/14 "2012-04-09T18:53:16Z")
A [wire clay cutter](http://www.enasco.com/product/4300201) used in pottery-making would do just fine, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neck-cord/618148/15 "2012-04-09T19:01:56Z")
Well, in the “motorcycle rider” scenario, like the urban legend, there’d be a lot more force applied. But if you’re talking about hand-held garrote, then no way. Since we’re on the subject, one of my favorite jokes from Futurama (from memory): Bender: “I’m going to [government office] to get [some kind of license]. Anybody need anything?” Hermes: “Can you get me a license to kill?” Bender: “Sure, bare-hands or weapon?” Hermes: “Hmm… what does garrote wire count as?”