myrkassi:
Just a thought - in Australia (so I'm told)'thongs' are what the rest of us call 'flip-flops'. Perhaps somewhere there's a story about an Australian girl who is wearing a single thong, while it's partner is being used to tan her bottom...?
Well, the description of 'thongs' as light rubber sandals (also called 'flip-flops'), that's used here in the U.S.A. as well, along with the singular 'thong' referring to very brief, buttock-exposing swimwear or underwear.
Back during my high school teaching career, I recall once hearing the principal listing over the P.A. system what types of attire were prohibited by the student dress code. When he mentioned "thongs," my first reaction was that I had no intention of checking on anyone's style of underwear, then I realized that he was referring to footgear.
So a young woman could indeed be wearing a thong bikini bottom on the beach, thereby leaving her nether moons bare for a maternal spanking with the sole of one or both of her rubber thongs...

--C.K.