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The torturer's lexicon also includes mordant, mocking names for their techniques and instruments. The Wet Submarine, for example, means near-suffocation of a prisoner by immersing him in water, or, frequently, urine; the Dry Submarine is the same thing, except that a plastic bag is tied over the victim's head to deprive him of oxygen. In the Grill, the victim is stretched out face up on a metal frame while a "massage" of shocks is delivered to various parts of the body. A Brazilian invention called the Parrot's Perch is used in many countries; it consists of a horizontal stick from which the prisoner is hung by the knees, with hands and ankles tied together. Another common technique, called the Telephone, consists of delivering sharp blows to both ears simultaneously, which often causes excruciatingly painful rupture of the ear drums. In the Hook, the victim is hoisted off the ground by his hands, which are tied behind his back in such a way that the stretching of the nerves often causes paralysis of the arms. Says one Uruguayan torture victim: "People on the Hook cannot take a deep breath or hardly any breath. They just moan; it's a dreadful, almost inhuman noise."
The torture subculture has its own rules and rituals, which sometimes parody the daily routine of infinitely less brutal professions. "It was just sort of a job to them," says former Methodist Missionary Fred Morris, who was tortured for 17 days in Recife, Brazil, in 1974. "These people had 9-to-5 jobs, except that their business was to torture for a living." There are often specific times of the night or day when victims are picked up by their torturer-interrogators. The prisoner is usually hooded or blindfolded. Sessions often begin quietly; physical torture starts only after the interrogator has built himself up to a feigned or genuine anger, which Andrew Blane of Amnesty International calls "an emotional state of furious self-righteousness." Some Chilean prisoners have reported torturers calling a prisoner to an interrogation session with the phrase "It's time to go to work." In Iran, where, as in many other countries, women are routinely raped during torture sessions, Reza Baraheni once watched a 13-year-old female prisoner calmly introduce her interrogator to her visiting family as "my rapist."
The prevalence of rape (of both men and women) as a torture technique indicates that the ranks of torturers contain many sexual psychotics as well as sadists. At the same time, some victims testify that their torturers were visibly strained by the routine and took pills to soothe their nerves; Fred Morris says that one of his torturers, a certain Major Maia, used to explain that he was a fellow Christian who went to Mass every day on his way to work.