Gag
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other meanings of the word "gag", see gag (disambiguation).
A gag is usually a device designed to prevent speech, often as a restraint device to stop the subject from calling for help. This is usually done by blocking the mouth, partially or completely, or attempting to prevent the tongue, lips, or jaw from moving in the normal patterns of speech. They are often less effective in reality than in crime fiction. They carry a strong risk of killing the victim by suffocation. In fact, the more "effective" a gag appears to be, the more hazardous it is.
The use of gags is commonly depicted in crime fiction, frequently with fetishistic connotations. In real life, it is actually very rare for criminals to gag anyone as they do in books and films. In extremely rare cases, courts have been known to gag unruly defendants; Bobby Seale was the most famous case.
Gags are sometimes also used in the context of some consensual BDSM activities: for the use of gags in a BDSM context, see gag (BDSM).
[edit] Other uses of the word
The word "gag" has come to have various extended meanings, e.g.:-
- Various sorts of laws and orders preventing or stopping discussion or revealing of information, e.g. a parliamentary procedure to end a debate.
- Gag (medical device), to keep the mouth open
- The word "gag" has been used for a cloth tied over the mouth and nose when the purpose was not to prevent speech but to keep harmful dust out of the lungs.
- See Gag (disambiguation), including for "GAG" as a set of initials.
