Ankle Bracelet

Often people arrested by the immigration police are released from custody after placement of an electric monitor on the person’s ankle. This is commonly referred to as an ankle bracelet.

The monitor placed on an ankle is uncomfortable, cannot be removed for washing, and is anything but pretty. It is definitely not a “bracelet.”

Assigning deceptively pleasant words to bad things is a marketing ploy often adopted by the government and continued by the press. For example, genocide and mass slaughter which are anything but clean are called “ethnic cleansing,” and wars are called “conflicts” as though they were domestic spats.

I suggest electronic monitors be called “electronic cuffs” or “electronic ankle shackles” or “electronic shackles.”

I am aware wearing an electronic shackle beats going to jail but language matters, at least sometimes.

Regards,

Martin