Tell me about the “switch.”

When I was young and a bad boy, my grandmother would say, “l going to have to go cut me a switch.” I visualized a long, slender, flexible branch that would be used to sting my bare legs. Later, I saw depictions of a “switch” that were a bundle of flexible plant material or, in other instances, a rather substantial, flexible rod. Is there a specific or common definition of a “switch” as an implement of punishmen?

What you described seeing sounds like stinging nettles - which hurt like hell and burn and itch afterwards.

When I was young and a bad boy, my grandmother would say, “l going to have to go cut me a switch.” I visualized a long, slender, flexible branch that would be used to sting my bare legs. Later, I saw depictions of a “switch” that were a bundle of flexible plant material or, in other instances, a rather substantial, flexible rod. Is there a specific or common definition of a “switch” as an implement of punishmen?

Mom had me cut a switch from a Willow bush,they were very flexible & strong & she would chase me around in circles switching my bare legs in the summer.