# Why is ti always "slit your wrist"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 18, 2003, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ti-always-slit-your-wrist/155843 "2003-02-18T08:05:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ti-always-slit-your-wrist/155843/1 "2003-02-18T08:05:32Z")
Why is it always said that one “slit” their wrist instead of cut. Now that I think about it, this is one of the very few times where you actually use the word “slit” for a cutting situation. you may say slit for a small opening, but very rarely for cutting things. Why only with the wrists? Does it just sound prettier? Or is there a real reason for it? ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ti-always-slit-your-wrist/155843/2 "2003-02-18T08:09:38Z")
is It maybe because you use a razor? arzor is clean and exact, while a regular knife could be expected to leave a more jagged wound. ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ti-always-slit-your-wrist/155843/3 "2003-02-18T08:21:47Z")
My knives would leave a very clean wound. You’d think somebody taught by Gurney Halleck would have learned how to use a stone… I suspect it’s because the traditional “run a razor across your wrist from one side to the other” gesture results in a small, neat cut. I slit envelopes, I slit the plastic on a CD, both small neat cuts. Successful blade and blood vessel suicides don’t get as much press as survivors (they don’t give sound bites), and are more likely to have the word “slashed” applied to their wounds. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ti-always-slit-your-wrist/155843/4 "2003-02-18T08:29:15Z")
[Related WordNet synsets for SUMO concept Cutting](http://virtual.cvut.cz/kifb/wordnet/_cutting.html) > [@](#): > > \*\*slash, gash \*\* > cut open; “she slashed her wrists” > \*\*cut \*\* > separated into parts or laid open or penetrated with a sharp edge or instrument; “the cut surface was mottled”; “cut tobacco”; “blood from his cut forehead”; “bandages on her cut wrists” > \*\*slit \*\* > cut a slit into; “slit the throat of the victim” > \*\*slit, slice \*\* > make a clean cut through; “slit her throat” ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ti-always-slit-your-wrist/155843/5 "2003-02-18T12:39:01Z")
I think it’s because “slit” and “wrist” have such a neat little internal rhyme thing going. ---
**Author:** ![Rattman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@Rattman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattman)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ti-always-slit-your-wrist/155843/6 "2003-02-18T12:41:57Z")
sliting your wrists is just silly My mate is a butcher and he says sliting your throat is much more effective and less painful as the blood stops rushing to your head faster and you go unconsicous ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ti-always-slit-your-wrist/155843/7 "2003-02-18T15:50:13Z")
_I slit a sheet, a sheet I slit, Upon a slitted sheet I sit._ ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-ti-always-slit-your-wrist/155843/8 "2003-02-18T16:25:23Z")
I have heard the term “slashed” used in connection with broken bottles, etc. My guess is it would refer to the “neatness” of the wound.