Public spanking

Why did they use the word "swats"?

That, I don't know. It was also used interchangeably with 'licks' as in, "My punishment is five licks or three days in detention."

That, I don't know. It was also used interchangeably with 'licks' as in, "My punishment is five licks or three days in detention."

'Licks' sounds like a word that might be used in the South or the Appalachian region. Sort of old fashioned folksy from down on the farm back in the day.

There are specialists in regional variants of the English language who could apparently pinpoint where such words are more likely to be be used. There are so many subtleties in English that are so fascinating to ponder on. It might also be that some words are more archaic than others, they come from older usages that have remained in vogue in out of the way places to then reemerge at a later time.

Bill Bryson was a wonderful author who explored the many oddities and historical subtleties of English. This would be a question right up his alley.

Why did they use the word swat!

Just a coincidence (I doubt this has anything to do with etymology). BUTT “Swat” spelled backwards is “TAWS” (alternate spelling of tawse - look it up) which is defined as a “leather thong split at the end used to punish children.”

TAWS - from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A leather strap, usually with a slit or fringe-like end, used as an instrument of punishment by schoolmasters and others.

TAWS - from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun Scot. A leather lash, or other instrument of punishment, used by a schoolmaster.

There is no such thing as coincidence. I can prove that using the same dictionary-based facts I used to prove it in 1969 at the ripe old age of 7 (and still before I found out that Father Christmas wasn't real).

Meanwhile, why do some people use the word "licks" in a spanking context? Licking is what we do with our tongue to ice cream or something. It has no remote connection to spanking.

I'm such a word nerd.

The etymology of "tawse": It derives from "taw," which comes from the Middle English "tawen," from Old English "tawian" (“to do, make”), from Proto-West Germanic "tawōn," a variant of Proto-West Germanic "tauwjan", from Proto-Germanic "tawjaną" (“to make, prepare”), from Proto-Indo-European "dewh"- (“to tie to, secure”).

At one time it meant to secure by means of a hemp rope or leather strap. Used as a verb, to taw something was to cure hemp or hides through the chemical tanning process, ending with beating it to soften it. It's not a huge leap to reach tawse, to beat as punishment.

I've only seen a little video of humans being tawsed. It looks as brutal as the heavy prison straps used in US and Canadian prison systems at one time. Pity the Scottish students who suffered it!

Meanwhile, why do some people use the word "licks" in a spanking context? Licking is what we do with our tongue to ice cream or something. It has no remote connection to spanking.

Not saying any of this is true - but there are several rationlizations for linking the word "lick" to spanking. Here are a couple, there are others if you search for them:

"The origin is in the Latin taken from the Etruscans (700 B.C.). The word “licks” as in “get your licks in” refers to being beaten with rods that were carried and administered by the “lictors” (hence the word "licks"). “Lictor” literally means “rod bearers”. The rods the lictors used were bundled together into what was called the fasces: a symbol of penal authority composed of a bundle of rods about five feet long, used to beat people." From “Fifty Days Through the Book of Acts”, to be published in 2023, by Mark Schwarzbauer PhD.

"Lick" is also metaphorical or figurative expression, which in one way or another goes back to ancient times. The original Hebrew book of Numbers contains the idea of an army ‘licking up’ resistance like a cow ‘licking up’ grass. But perhaps a more direct antecedent is the belief, found for instance in writings of Pliny the Elder, that bear cubs are born as amorphous blobs, and their mothers literally ‘lick them into shape’.

I wouldn't have thought of any of that. I especially wouldn't have thought of "lictor" as being the root of the word "lick". It sounds about as likely as "catalogue" being derived from "cat".

On the other hand, words like "smack" and "whack" are onomatopoeic words that suggest the SOUND of a spanking, aren't they? That's why I like to use words like that.

I wouldn't have thought of any of that. I especially wouldn't have thought of "lictor" as being the root of the word "lick". It sounds about as likely as "catalogue" being derived from "cat".

On the other hand, words like "smack" and "whack" are onomatopoeic words that suggest the SOUND of a spanking, aren't they? That's why I like to use words like that.

Probably not, but extrapolating cat from catalogue is a stretch analogy. At least “lictor” has some tie to someone being beaten. Unless you beat your cat with a catalogue , I don’t see the similarity. “Lick” ”as a reference to spanking or inferenceing dominance or pain came from somewhere. Many so called “experts” will come up with ridiculous reasons … most are just humorous! Where did tanning your hide come from? Tanning booths?

As far as I’m concerned, these terms, (when used to child discipline), are just abuse. For adults, just play.

Meanwhile, why do some people use the word "licks" in a spanking context? Licking is what we do with our tongue to ice cream or something. It has no remote connection to spanking.

Words that now sound odd when used or seem used in an odd manner are often archaic throwbacks to common usage from earlier centuries. Since English (thankfully) has no body of learned persons defining and regulating its usage, as opposed to for instance the Academie Francais or the Nederlandse Taalunie (for Dutch), correct English is whatever a majority or even a halfway significant minority of English-speakers use.

This means that old words often stick around, out of linguistic inertia or because they are used by isolated social groups or because they are suddenly in vogue again for some unfathomable reason.

My favorite is the phrase 'to trip the light fantastic' which means to dance. It was suddenly in vogue during the 1920s after it appeared in a hit song (I'm Gonna Dance Wid the Guy That Brung Me) after being dormant more or less since the 16th century. It comes from the phrase that describes courtly dancing back then: to trip the light fantastic toe, which refers to how feet were deftly used to dance with a partner while standing still, with 'trip' used in the sense of moving.

So, if you do a bit of searching you'll find that 'to lick' (as in to hit) appears in a 16th century Bible verse:

"to beat, surpass, overcome" 1530s, perhaps from figurative use of lick (v.1) in the Coverdale bible that year in a sense of "defeat, annihilate" (an enemy's forces) in Numbers xxii.4:

Now shal this heape licke up all that is about vs, euen as an oxe licketh vp the grasse in the field.

But to lick (of) the whip "taste punishment" is attested from mid-15c.

also from 1530s

___________________

And aside from all the interesting history, words in English, and in many other languages as well, often have several meanings although they are spelled just the same. One has to derive the correct meaning from the context of a sentence. This is really nothing all that surprising or new.

This is a wonderfully lyrical and versatile way to go about using a language that retains a great many connotations to how it was used in previous centuries.

English is what the people who use English make it out to be. Now isn't that wonderfully democratic?