Safeword (sports)

A safeword, as used in sports, is a code word used by a player to avoid impending injury. In certain contact sports such as rugby and Professional wrestling , when a player feels an opposing players actions will lead to him or herself being seriously injured, he may utter a safeword which tells the opponent to stop the actions. Professional Rugby union footballers recognize the safeword "Neck". This is said, during a scrum, when a player fears his neck risks being broken. Players on both teams will recognize this and immediately release any downward pressure. A more common example is "matte" (pronounced "mah-teh", meaning "wait") in most Japanese martial arts including judo, which indicates surrender, usually due to an arm lock or a choke. In professional competition, saying "stop" or "help" does not indicate surrender and the opponent may continue combat. Professional wrestling also observes safewords; in the G.L.O.W. for instance, the universal safeword is "fuck", which a wrestler shouts to tell her opponent that a move is hurting her (chosen, assumedly, because it stands out among the normally "PG" language used in the ring). During Lifeguard training, the American Red Cross uses a "tap off" as a form of the safeword. If at anytime one of the lifeguard trainees feels that they do not have enough oxygen to complete an underwater simulation of a rescue, that trainee should tap the other person twice to signal that the rescue has been aborted.