Body bag

Body bag

A body bag is a non-porous bag designed to contain a human body, used for the storage and transport of corpses. Body bags can also be used for the storage of corpses within morgues. Before purpose-made body bags were available, cotton mattress covers were sometimes used, particularly in combat zones during the Second World War. However, the subsequent rubber (and now plastic) body-bag designs are much superior, not least because they prevent leakage of body fluids, which often occurs after someone dies. The dimensions of a body-bag are generally around 36 inches by 90 inches.

In modern warfare, body bags have been used to contain the bodies of dead soldiers. Governments typically have reserves of body bags, both for anticipated wars and natural disasters. During the Cold War, vast reserves of body bags were built up in anticipation of millions of fatalities from nuclear warFact|date=January 2008. This was the subject of Adrian Mitchell's haunting protest poem "Fifteen Million Plastic Bags".

Body bags are sometimes portrayed in films and television as being made of a heavy black plastic. Lightweight white body bags have since become popular because it is much easier to spot a piece of evidence that may have been jostled from the body in transit on a white background than on a black background. Even so black body-bags are still in general use, as the adjacent photo taken in 2008 shows. Other typical colours include orange, blue, or grey. Regardless of their colour, body bags are made of thick plastic and have a full-length zipper on them. Sometimes the zipper runs straight down the middle. Alternatively, the path of the zipper may be J-shaped or D-shaped. Depending on the design, there are sometimes handles (two on each side) to facilitate lifting. It is possible to write information on the plastic surface of a bodybag using a marker pen, and this often happens - either in situ (particularly when a large number of bodies are being collected) or at the mortuary, before being stored in refrigerated cabinets. Alternatively, some designs of body bag have transparent label pockets as an integral part of the design, into which a name-card can be inserted. In any case, a conventional toe tag can easily be tied to one of the lifting handles if required. Body bags are not designed to be washed and re-used, with good reason: aside from the obvious hygiene concerns, re-use of body bags could easily contaminate evidence in the case of a suspicious death. As a result, body bags are routinely discarded and incinerated after one use.

Although body bags are most often used for the transport of human remains from their place of discovery to a funeral home or mortuary, they can also be used for temporary burials such as in a combat zone. In such situations, proper funerals are impossible due to imminent enemy attack. This was the situation during the Falklands War of 1982, during which British casualties were placed in grey plastic bodybags and then laid in mass graves. Some months after the conflict ended, all remains were exhumed from their temporary graves to receive a conventional funeral service with full military honours.

The term body bag is sometimes used for fashion or other bags worn on the body ("sling body bag" or "across body bag") and this sense has no connection with either of the two above senses.

With the addition of provision for breathing, specially adapted body bags are also used for the BDSM practice of mummification.

See also

* shroud
* coffin
* Toe tag

External links

* [http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/local/index.php?ntid=158585 Even body bags need to be hawked] — Wisconsin State Journal


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • body bag — body bags N COUNT A body bag is a specially designed large plastic bag which is used to carry a dead body away, for example when someone has been killed in a battle or an accident. The people are unnerved at the prospect of young soldiers coming… …   English dictionary

  • body bag — n a large bag in which a dead body is removed ▪ No pictures of dead soldiers, body bags, or coffins were allowed …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • body bag — body ,bag noun count a large bag used for carrying away the dead body of a soldier or of someone killed in a crime or accident …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • body bag — n a large zippered bag (as of rubber or vinyl) in which a human corpse is placed esp. for transportation …   Medical dictionary

  • body bag — n. a rubberized bag sealed with a zipper, used for transporting a human corpse from a war zone, accident, etc …   English World dictionary

  • body bag — noun a bag in which the body of a dead soldier is placed • Syn: ↑personnel pouch, ↑human remains pouch • Hypernyms: ↑bag * * * noun, pl ⋯ bags [count] : a large bag that a dead person s body is put in to be carried or moved to another place * * * …   Useful english dictionary

  • body bag — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms body bag : singular body bag plural body bags a large bag used for carrying away the dead body of a soldier or of someone killed in a crime or accident …   English dictionary

  • body bag —    American    a container for the transfer of a corpse, especially that of a serviceman    Unlike the British, who traditionally bury their soldiers in some corner of a foreign field , the bodies of Americans killed abroad are returned to the… …   How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms

  • body bag — bod′y bag n. cvb a zippered bag made of rubberized material, used to transport a dead body, as from the scene of an accident • Etymology: 1965–70 …   From formal English to slang

  • body bag — noun (C) a large bag in which a dead body is removed: Men will not volunteer to fight once they see the body bags returning …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”