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What is the proper term for an ankle monitoring device issued through court order?

English Language & Usage Asked by Lisa Beck on January 15, 2021

I was trying to find a translation of this in another language when I realized I wasn’t entirely sure what the official name of such a device is in my own language. I’ve seen both "ankle bracelet" and "ankle brace" refer to such a thing, but both of those can mean other things as well. Nevertheless, when referring to some sort of court ordered ankle monitoring device, is one preferred over the other?

For research I’ve done little more than Google searches of news articles and books. Rather than spend more time on it, I thought I’d see what the experts here at English Language & Usage might know about this topic or see if someone here would like to use this opportunity to practice their research skills.

One Answer

'Electronic Tag' is the official nomenclature.

Electronic Tags - Electronic monitoring (known as ‘tagging’) is used in England and Wales to monitor curfews and conditions of a court or prison order.

Gov.UK

I have heard the word 'bracelet' being used colloquially, but this causes confusion with the other slang meaning of 'bracelet'.

Urban Dictionary

As mentioned in comment by @Kate Bunting, there was a BBC Radio sitcom called 'Ankle Tag', regarding an ex-convict on license situation, which aired in 2017 and 2018.

Wikipedia - BBC - 'Ankle Tag'

The Ngram (1960-2019) shows 'electronic tag' is used far more than 'ankle tag'. It would be meaningless to Ngram just the word 'tag' due to confusion of contexts.

Answered by Nigel J on January 15, 2021

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