Wedgie

Wedgie is the act of pulling someone’s underpants forcibly between their buttocks upwards. It is usually performed as a practical joke in schools, but it can be a form of bullying as well.

However, there are very serious dangers when performing “wedgies” on someone, especially on males. It can potentially cause testicular or scrotal damage.

There are also many variants of “wedgies” as a form of prank or bullying, which will be mentioned in the “Spread” section.

via MEME

Apparently, the origin of the term “wedgie” comes from a Cornell student named Marvel Wedgie.

In the early 1930s, Marvel Wedgie attempted to jump off the ledge of his dorm room over  a B- grade on a paper he did.

His roommate, Edwin F. Feeley, successfully pulled him back just as he jumped, resulting in his underwear pulling up into his butt crack.

Other students below saw the event and began to laugh. In a couple of days, the story spread as well as the term.

There are various examples of “wedgies” not only the traditional form of this joke. It would be also impractical to list all the variants of it, however there are few ones that are well known.

The melvin is a variant where a victim’s underwear is pulled upwards to hurt them and cause severe injury and pain to the victim’s genitals. When it’s done to a female, it is called a minerva.

The hanging wedgie is when someone is hanged above from the ground from his or her underwear.

The atomic wedgie entails the waistband of the victim’s underwear up and over their head. This variant of the “wedgie” is a signature prank of a character from The Mask: The Animated Series.

• Wikipedia – Wedgie
• Quora – Bullying: When and where did the wedgies begin?