Talk:Shiv (weapon)

- added photo Dylan Mather 22:25, 20 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

"The character Richard B. Riddick in the films Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick coined the term "shiv-happy"." Is this line needed? -Drhaggis 01:14, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I think it's a nice bit of trivia. Maybe put it under a Trivia heading? Though an article this short with a trivia heading would look strange...Drago 22:12, Apr 19, 2005 (UTC)

I say leave it, it's an interesting bit of info- anonymous

I agree, since the topic isn't that popular, it's nice, and educational to have this bit of info in Shiv (weapon). LebanonChild 15:40, 25 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

"metal shank of a prison-issued boot" - I looked up shank in the dictionary (m-w) and found "the narrow part of the sole of a shoe beneath the instep". I'm still a little unclear about where or why there would be metal there (I assume for rigidity, but, that's just a guess). If anyone's got some info on that, making a page Shank (Sole) or Shank (Shoe) could be good.

Not necessarily improvised

I checked some online sources (m-w.com, about.com, dictionary.com), and they support my understanding that "shiv" is slang for a knife. I agree that it is commonly used to refer to improvised weapons, but it does not mean the same thing as "shank," an improvised stabbing/cutting weapon. All shanks, that is, are shivs, but not all shivs are shanks.

I first came across the term "shiv" in the video game "Shamus," back in the early 1980's. I looked it up in a dictionary, the big paper kind, and it's a slang term for a knife, specifically a knife as a weapon. It's a Raymond Chandler/film-noir kind of word, like calling a gun a "heater."

http://www.videogamehouse.net/cartss.html#Shamus

Assassination?

The article originally said "Shanking is a popular prison assassination method." The term "assassination" usually refers to important people, especially leaders and other government officials. I changed the sentence to read "Many people have been killed by attackers using shanks while serving time in prison." I think this conveys the right idea.

Actually, "assassination" means murder for political reason. It doesn't matter how important the victim is ( to everyone but the assaliant - to whom the victim is obvsiouly very important ).

About the Chopper reference........

in the last paragraph the writer has mentioned chopper stabbing somebody to death in the movie, then wrote "Though it's debatable that this ever happened." well, it didn't happen. the man getting killed, Keith Faure A.K.A Keithy George is alive and kicking, in the past month he has been given a life sentence for carrying out a hit. just thought i'd clear that up — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.164.147.223 (talk • contribs)

This is the case, and there's even a wiki link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Faure which mentions it.

might I also add that Read has made reference in one book to the use of pliers. There's a couple of ways they coudl be used, but the one relevant to this section is that they were 'turned around' and likely with the rubber sleeve 'grips' removed or cut/retracted. Basically it was held by the jaw area of the pliers and became a double shiv of sorts

Drifting meaning of slangy pop-cultural terms

Look up "shiv" and "shank" in a dictionary (go ahead, I'll wait...) and you'll see that the words don't (originally) mean quite what Wikipedia currently says. They are slangy pop-culture terms to begin with, and it's certainly nothing to get worked up (or shivved, or shanked) about, but in any case, here is what the words were supposed to mean before they became such darlings of the modern pop-culture movie/TV prison show/gamer set:

Shiv means a knife as a weapon; it's a slang term. It could be anything you'd stab and/or cut somebody with; a stiletto, a dagger, a chef's knife, or, not ideally, a sharpened toothbrush.

Shank can mean a lot things; basically, it means something stiff and straight, like a shaft, a haft, or a stem. When it refers to a weapon, it is a slang term for an improvised knife; or for any improvised stabbing or slashing weapon. It usually refers to something that's been prepared or assembled painstakingly from unlikely materials, as opposed to, say, a shard of glass that happens to be handy after you get tossed into a mirror in a barfight. Watch your fingers! Yes, the idea is that the "original shank" was a sharpened shank from a prison-issue shoe or boot; but the meaning is more broad than this.

Contributors seem to think that shiv means "shank" and shank is a specific type of "shiv." It's important, I guess, for everyone to know what 95% of the people who use these terms mean by them, but it's noteworthy (apparently, but maybe only to me) to...note...that the dictionaries of the world say something else.

So...odds are that when you hear someone saying shiv, he means "shank"; remember that when you are walking into the public showers, if it's any comfort to you. And if a character from a Raymond Chandler short-story tells you to bring a shiv with you when you meet him in the alley, don't be surprised if he's dissapointed when you show up with something you fashioned out of a T-square and some duct tape.