Loaded sock with a billiards ball inside.A duel between Louise Henin and Andrée Merle in Paris in 1921, seen here hitting each other with loaded socks full of sand, as drawn by Le Petit Journal. In this era, socks loaded with sand were known as "sandbags."
A common phrase used to describe hitting someone with a loaded sock is to sock it to them, which has since evolved to mean generally winning something.[13] The colloquialism or reference term – many of them neologistic – which describes the loaded sock depends on what the sock has been loaded with. A sock loaded with one or more rocks is often called a rock in a sock,[14] or a rock sock,[15] just as one with a lock has been called a lock in a sock,[16] or lock sock,[17] this pattern might follow for any other object.[1]
Military use
Loaded socks have been used in guerrilla warfare and irregular warfare for hundreds of years, such as those used by British scouts during the Second Boer War to silently kill sentries during the Relief of Mafeking. The authors of Colonel Z write that this battle was: "...another opportunity for Claude Dansey to take his loaded sock to the sentries..."[18] Loaded socks have been used as weapons during protests against police or paramilitary forces, while police forces hit back with batons. They might occasionally be used as projectile weapons.[19] Loaded socks are often used in blanket parties as part of military hazing rituals, such as at basic training, or during the Crossing The Line Ceremony of many navies.
Loaded socks are used in common forms of prison violence.[1][23] Loaded socks in prisons are usually filled with hard items, but can also often be filled with sharp objects like blades.[24] Other prisoners might prefer loading socks with plug sockets.[25] Loaded socks are often used during prison escapes, such as the one used at New Jersey State Prison in 1909.[26] Some loaded socks are stuffed with single soup cans.[27]
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