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Word: rapelling (lookup in dictionary) (lookup stats)
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...butyl mercaptan is a light petroleum liquid whose skunklike odor is so foul that it is used for detecting leaks in natural-gas pipelines. Now a Texas entrepreneur named J.W. Small is promoting it as a rape repellent. Rapel, as his $9.95 product is called, is an inch-long plastic cylinder that contains a fragile glass ampoule of the obnoxious fluid. The pencil-thick device can be clipped to the inside of a dress, bra or nightgown; when pressed lightly, the ampoule breaks, releasing the ardor-killing odor. One rape crisis expert frets that Rapel "lulls the user into...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Odds & Trends: Odds & Trends | 3/10/1980 | See Source »

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