When does a strap become a paddle?

otkgirl · #1 05-11-2004, 11:43 PM

Okay, haven't asked a really weird question for a while, so here it is. Just popped into my brain, and now I want to know.

When does a leather strap become a paddle?

It can't simply be when you add a handle, because lots of straps have handles.

It can't be simply width or length or thickness, because there are some god awful straps out there, like the Georgia style prison strap...

I was wondering if it was the flexibility factor, but you Still hear people say that the leather paddle is more forgiving than the wooden paddle, because it 'gives'....

Soooo, are there really such things as leather paddles, or is the term a misnomer....

Angie

ps, on the subject of straps, Southern Strappings is the Coolest tape! My husband says I sound like Isabel when I get a hard licking....

Jack · #2 05-12-2004, 01:23 AM

A leather strap is flexible. A leather paddle is rigid.

One whips, the other swats.

The strap is a strip of leather. The leather paddle has some kind of reinforcement to support the leather. The addition of a handle is optional for either.

That's how I see it anyway.

Jack

Michael · #3 05-12-2004, 03:34 AM

My way of thinking (just an opinion):

I classify most striking implements by the nature of the striking surface, in a 2 x 2 matrix, with flat or round on one side, and stiff or flexible on the other. Three of the resulting four categories have agreed-on names: paddle (flat and stiff); strap (flat and flexible); and whip (round and flexible). The round and stiff "family" has no one name; it includes switches, riding crops (the lash, not the loop), canes and rods. (I'd like to call it the "switch" family, but I don't think I could get anyone to go along with me.) Any of these can have handles, which are generally stiff; that doesn't change the classification based on striking surface. Everything except paddles can be bundled or multi-lashed; a tawse is a multi-lashed (or split-lashed) strap; a birch is a bundle of switches; a braided flogger is a multi-lashed whip. (I suppose a multi-bladed paddle -- tuning-fork- or trident-shaped -- is theoretically possible but I don't recall seeing one.) They are classified with their single-lash or -blade relatives.

However, as with most classification systems, there are tricky cases at the edges. Mostly these arise over the question raised by Angie -- what is stiff versus what is flexible. A rubber hose, for instance, can be wound up into a coil, but when cut to the length used as an implement, it also can support itself (that is, not hang down limp) when held horizontal. Is it a kind of switch, or whip, or is it outside this classification system? Stiff rope, or some very thick braided whips, raise the same question. There can also be tricky issues over round versus flat -- most notably, the lashes of most floggers are flat strips of leather (some floggers are braided, but not most), which means they technically are little straps -- but I'm not going to lead a campaign to have floggers declared "bundled straps" instead of "multi-lash whips." (I'm a fanatic for logical classification but that seems like an instance not to push it.)

Back to the original question, it's purely a matter of individual opinion when a leather strap gets so stiff it's a paddle, or vice versa. I'd say if you hold the handle horizontal and the end of the lash isn't pointing down at a 45 degree angle or more, it's a paddle, but I'm not proposing that as a formal definition (because as far as I know we don't need one -- unless someone is trying to come up with an ANSI standard for spanking implements, in which case, good for them, it's about time our kink was recognized by the technical standards community).

The thing I'd come the closest to insisting on is that it isn't a matter of material; "leather paddle" is not an oxymoron. There are leather paddles, and if someone could figure out how to make a wood implement whose lash was flexible (a lot of narrow interlocking slats with dowel joints between them, like a watch band?) you could make a wood strap, too, though I wouldn't recommend letting anyone test it on you.

Just my opinion.

P.S. I'm sure most leather paddles do have reinforcement in them to stiffen them, but it isn't mandatory -- I made a paddle once by cutting a weightlifting belt in half and gluing the halves together (doubling the thickness of the leather), and that sucker is as stiff as wood (and heavier than most wood) with NO reinforcement (unless you count the glue).

Michael · #4 05-12-2004, 04:16 AM

Afterthought: My preceding post was not intended to be a humorous parody (though I'll certainly take no offense if others FIND it funny) -- I really HAVE given this that much thought. I've been thinking about spanking for 38 years and most of that time ALL I've been in a position to do is think. So I may have gone into a leeeetle bit too much detail.

otkgirl · #5 05-12-2004, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Michael
Afterthought: My preceding post was not intended to be a humorous parody (though I'll certainly take no offense if others FIND it funny) -- I really HAVE given this that much thought. I've been thinking about spanking for 38 years and most of that time ALL I've been in a position to do is think. So I may have gone into a leeeetle bit too much detail.

While funny, I didn't take it as a parody,and unlike most digressions, mine especially, you actually got back to the central question....

Although in your preceding post you mentioned making a flexible wood 'strap'....hmmm. Let's think about that one.... the center portion would be leading as you swung, the joints would open up slightly, it would land, the tip would follow through, the joints would close, MASSIVE pinch would ensue, besides the normal problems following a strap stroke... nope, not gonna test that one...time to bring in the stunt bottom. Oh Audrey sweety....

Angie

Victoria Wood · #6 05-12-2004, 12:37 PM

Michael,

Is it standard to use the shaft of a riding crop as a striking implement and not just the tip? I've always wondered.

Michael · #7 05-12-2004, 04:58 PM

Victoria,

The short answer is, I don't know.

Certainly, the way a riding crop is DESIGNED to be used (to hit a horse), and IS used, in horse races, the striking surface is the shaft. My understanding is that the loop on the end of the shaft was originally intended to enable the rider to operate the latch on gates without dismounting or leaning way down out of the saddle.

Among spankos, the riding crop seems to be a powerful erotic symbol, considered very kinky (even among us), very sexy. Perhaps that's because it is one of the few objects that's part of the mainstream culture (though a marginal part; how many of us are routinely exposed to English riding tack?) -- a "household object" -- that is intended as a striking implement (unlike, say, hairbrushes and belts that are adapted to that use).

But despite its symbolic power, you very seldom actually see one USED. At one time I spent much time scouring the internet for free punishment video clips of all kinds, and wound up with hundreds, and only a few of those use a riding crop. It's one of those things people talk about and make reference to and then don't actually DO.

And the few times I have seen it used, it's ALWAYS been the slapper. It's been a riding crop specially designed for spanko use, where the gate-operating loop has been greatly widened into a slapper, and that's the striking surface. In effect, it's a strap with a very short lash and a very long, slightly flexible handle (the crop lash becomes the handle).

I have NO IDEA why this is. It's always puzzled me. I own a crop, and have used the loop (in my case it's a "real" riding crop, from a tack catalog, with a "legitimate" loop, not a slapper) for erotic punishment, and quite frankly I can't remember if I ever got to use the shaft itself -- my best spanking partner wasn't much into switches of any kind. But I don't see any reason why it couldn't or shouldn't be used.

Any insight on this from others would be greatly appreciated.

Razor · #8 05-13-2004, 12:50 AM

Hi Victoria,

Michael, has a pretty good take on the use of a riding crop.
When it's used in D&S play..I prefer one that has a slapper for a tip. It's easier to aim with and really all it's good for is to swipe at a specific area of the body..depending what area the spanker is aiming at. It's called a slapper, because the tip feels and sounds like a slap when it is being applied. A crop can be used as a cane too, due to it's thin shaft..but the tip can cause unwanted and unintentional marks when the implement is swung at full force.

The crop is pretty much a warm up tool..and it gives the spanker a sort of swaggering aire as well.

Razor

moose · #9 05-13-2004, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Michael
Victoria,

...

Certainly, the way a riding crop is DESIGNED to be used (to hit a horse), and IS used, in horse races, the striking surface is the shaft. My understanding is that the loop on the end of the shaft was originally intended to enable the rider to operate the latch on gates without dismounting or leaning way down out of the saddle.

Michael:

I think you are in error here. The gate-opening element of a crop is I believe the right-angled extension to the handle-end of a crop of a type you will see in a traditional riding-equipment store (but never in my experience on the crops sold in fetish stores). Such a crop is featured at the link below...

I cannot speak for horse racing in the USA but horse racing in Britain run under the jurisdiction of the Jockey Club certainly envisages the use of the loop or flap at the end of the crop to strike the horse. Indeed the Jockey Club publishes specifications of approved crops including maximum and minimum size of such flaps.

Moose

http://www.kimmerston.com/horse-antiques.htm

Michael · #10 05-13-2004, 06:47 PM

Hmmm. If the loop is the intended striking surface even for a horse, I wonder why it's a loop? And I wonder how a jockey, bouncing along during a race, can wield it with sufficient precision as to hit the horse only with the loop, never with the shaft? (AND he's hitting backward without looking.)

However, a quick web search turns up nothing to support my contention, and one thing to refute it (one of the dictionary definitions says the loop is the lash).

SO, this raises the possibility that I may not know everything.

What WILL I base my self-image on from now on?