Mortons

May 7, 2009 12:48 PM

When I was in elementary school, we called front-wedgies (where you pull up someone's underwear in the front, rather than in the back) 'mortons'... am I the only one to have done this, or is it something common? also, if anyone actually did call it a 'morton,' where does the name come from?
posted by chicago2penn to grab bag (15 comments total)

Must be regional. My aunt's kids called this a "snuggie." Bill and Ted called it a "Melvin."
posted by hermitosis at 12:51 PM on May 7

I believe the term in my area (Northern VA) it was always referred to as a 'melvin', and Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey backed this up when they gave Death a melvin.

See also - wedgie variants. No idea where it came from, though...
posted by FatherDagon at 12:53 PM on May 7

It was a "Melvin" in central Kansas in the 70s/80s too.
posted by amyms at 1:19 PM on May 7

Mid-Atlantic in the 70's and 80's, we called it a Melvin.
No idea why, but we called the rare instance of a Melvin performed on a female a "Claire".
posted by bartleby at 1:25 PM on May 7

Melvin - Philadelphia, 90's
posted by DrDreidel at 1:32 PM on May 7

ok. so i'm retarded.... i did call it a melvin.

anyone know where that word comes from???
posted by chicago2penn at 2:31 PM on May 7

I remember it being called a "Grundy" for some reason. Michigan, mid-80s.
posted by Ghidorah at 2:35 PM on May 7

This might be a data point for helping to find out where the term "Melvin" originated: When I was a kid, in addition to using "Melvin" as the word for a "front wedgie" we also called people who wore their pants with the waist pulled up too high a "Melvin" (the more recent examples I can think of are Steve Urkel from "Family Matters" and Dana Carvey's character "Ed Grimley"). Perhaps the original "Melvin" was a television or movie character who was known for that look?
posted by amyms at 2:41 PM on May 7

grundie was an interchangeable term for the standard back wedgie when I walked carefully through those dangerous times
posted by Redhush at 2:59 PM on May 7

"Fudge-ie", Southeast, mid 1980s.
posted by zpousman at 3:14 PM on May 7

In early issues of Mad, Alfred E Newman was often referred to as Melvin Cowznofski and he sometimes sported the high-pants look.
posted by joaquim at 3:17 PM on May 7

If you're familiar with the term grundle, then calling a front-wedgie a Grundy makes perfect sense.
posted by diogenes at 3:26 PM on May 7

Dana Carvey's character "Ed Grimley"

Ed Grimley was Martin Short's character.

/derail
posted by soelo at 7:30 AM on May 8

I just re-watched Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, and the "Melvin" they give to Death (and the one Death later gives to someone else) is a classic rear-wedgie, not a front one. FYI
posted by bizwank at 1:43 PM on May 24 [1 favorite]

Excellent research bizwank!
posted by diogenes at 10:47 AM on May 27