• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

What exactly is Chinese water torture?

torture?

isn't that when the Chinese would torture people by tying them down and having water drip in them in the same spot (usually the temple) until it drove them crazy?

 
Not entirely sure but I think it's that you are attached to an incline with your hands and legs and basically your entire body strapped down. Then, one single drop of water is placed on your forehead and, at the right incline, it will slowly drip down your face and you will not be able to remove it.
Repeat as necessary.
 
I'm pretty sure Kai is on the mark here.... you're strapped into a chair or something, and water is dripped onto you until you go nuts. Maybe someone has some better info, but I think that's the general idea.
 
Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP
i thought the multiple droplets will eventually drill a hole in your skull...
Click to expand...

I've heard this as well!

Was just going to post: what happens to the point of impact, say after 24 hours? 7 days? one month? (continuous dripping)
 
Originally posted by: Legendary
Not entirely sure but I think it's that you are attached to an incline with your hands and legs and basically your entire body strapped down. Then, one single drop of water is placed on your forehead and, at the right incline, it will slowly drip down your face and you will not be able to remove it.
Repeat as necessary.
Click to expand...

You're right.
It's a very effective tool to torture people. After an hour or two, the dripping becomes painful both mentally and physically.
 
From the Stright Dope:

Dear Cecil:

Did (or do) the Chinese torture prisoners using the Chinese water torture? --Fritz Reece, Chicago

Cecil replies:

Probably not. "Chinese" is one of those all-purpose English pejoratives in which foreign is equated with weird. Two variants may be noted. The first is Chinese in the sense of "confused, disorganized, or inferior," as in "Chinese fire drill" (a chaotic scene, or more commonly these days, the collegiate prank in which everyone tumbles out of a car at a stoplight, runs around to the other side, and piles in again), "Chinese ace" (a bumbling pilot), "Chinese navy" (a disorganized group), and so on. The other sense is "exotic, mysterious, or devious," as in Chinese handcuffs (the finger restraints that bind more tightly the harder you try to pull your fingers out), Chinese checkers (the game is said to have been invented in the latter 19th century by an Englishman), and of course the Chinese water torture.

Most people understand Chinese water torture to mean driving a prisoner mad by dripping water on his forehead, although a few claim it refers to (a) near drowning or (b) stuffing a rag into the mouth of a prisoner and dripping water on it until it swells up and suffocates him. Chinese = confused is thought to have originated in Britain around World War I; Chinese = exotic/devious is perhaps a little older. Word sleuth Barry Popik tells me the first known use of the term was Harry Houdini's "Chinese Water Torture Cell," a stunt introduced circa 1903 in which Houdini was lowered into a tank of water upside down and had to come out alive. Popik says the drip-drip-drip method of torture, not referred to as "Chinese," is described in Brian Innes's The History of Torture (1998) as having been invented by one Hippolytus de Marsiliis in 16th-century Italy. At some point subsequent to 1903, presumably, someone conflated Houdini's trick with de Marsiliis's torture, and the two have been linked ever since.

--CECIL ADAMS

Cheers,
Aquaman
 
Originally posted by: Legendary
Not entirely sure but I think it's that you are attached to an incline with your hands and legs and basically your entire body strapped down. Then, one single drop of water is placed on your forehead and, at the right incline, it will slowly drip down your face and you will not be able to remove it.
Repeat as necessary.
Click to expand...

I though the idea was that as it drips, it will eventually feel like it's heavier and heavier as it hits your skull.
 
I thought it was a magic trick that Houdini did.
They straight-jacketed, chained and shackled him, then lowered him into a great big glass fish tank. Once he was in there, they'd bolt the lid down and cover everything with a blanket.
After a few minutes, he'd escape unscathed (naturally).
 
read flyboys

they basically beer bong someone with water repeatedly until they're almost drowning, then sometimes kick them in the belly to rupture the stomach and flood the organs with water.
 
They put a tube down your throat and fill you with insane amounts of water for a few hours...

Then they jump on you.
 
Originally posted by: richardycc

I think that's the korean water torture?
Click to expand...

No, that's where they make you drink a glass of water for every Starcraft game you lose during a 24-hour LAN.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top