Spanks vs. spankings

Over the years I have seen the individual swats delivered in the course of a spanking referred to as both "spanks" and "spankings". The curious writer/reader in me wonders about the semantics at play. Personally, I have always felt that: a series of individual 'spanks' go into making up one 'spanking' and that if one was punished multiple times that each 'spanking' would then lead to several 'spankings'.....made up, naturally, of a whole lotta 'spanks'.

However..............that said.......I have seen 'spankings' used to describe individual smacks enough times to realize that such phrasing is not at all uncommon. So, is this a regional thing? Is this based on how one heard it from others? I am interested in hearing from proponents of both phrasings. What about you? What is the way YOU refer to the individual swats in a spanking? (And don't be a wise-ass and say: swats, smacks, wallops, etc. etc. )

Coming from the UK, I would say that a spanking is the complete punishment and that a swat, or a smack, or a wallop would be an individual action or blow within that complete punishment. Not sure about an individual spank. That word would be used more in the context of say a parent telling a child they are getting a spanking, as in 'I am going to spank you' say, or in other words a verb rather than a noun.

I'm from the US, and the verbiage I've always heard is that a spank is one swat, or the backside is struck one time. A spanking is multiple swats or a completed punishment. The word spank can either be a verb or a noun depending on the context it is used in.

Saying "I gave her one hearty spank in the store as a precurser to what would happen when we got home for her poor behavior," uses the word spank as a noun.

Saying, "When I had her over my knee and delivered the first spank on her bare bottom, she yelped at the sudden pain," also uses the word as a noun.

"I continued to spank her until her bottom was cherry red, " is using spank as a verb.

"She received a hard spanking for her behavior," uses the term as a noun.

It's just an example of how the same little word can mean different things, and be different parts of speech.

Not sure I would use the word 'spank' as a singular noun. More likely I would go for smack or swat maybe.

Looking at the word spanking from the other point of view, it is more generic. Some people might consider a spanking as hand on bottom, several or many times, whereas it could be hand, or hairbrush, or slipper (plimsoll) applied to the bottom. The generic term could also include other implements, like strap, or tawse, or paddle, but would stop short of including cane or birch.

Spank is a verb, spanking is a noun.

At least, thats how I see it.

p.s. On second thoughts, I see that "a spank" is also a noun. When both are nouns, I think spank is singular whereas spanking is plural. I have yet to come across a spanking that consists of a single swat.

Unlike Jenny, I would use spank as a singular noun. I would not use spanking as a singular noun like spank or smack.

Like Jenny, I would use spanking as a noun to describe the application of multiple smacks with hand or flat implement to the bottom. I too would not use it to describe the application of multiple strokes (or whatever) with cane, or whip. They have their own words, caning and whipping. I am grateful to Jenny for pointing that out as I had not appreciated it before.


I always have difficulty with the following expression (or similar) "He gave her another xxxx with the tawse/whip/belt etc, indeed anything other than the hand which is spank or smack or cane which is stroke.

Cane--stroke.
Tawse--???
Whip---lash?
Slipper--???
Paddle--???

Any suggestions?

Geoffrey Stirling

Methinks:

Tawse- - thrash
Slipper - - slap
Paddle - - some variation on paddling.

Your mileage might vary (standard phrase in US car adverts)

In the world I grew up in, that being near Dallas, Texas,

The verbiage in my upbringing, and still in my mind was / is,

hand - spank
paddle - lick or swat
belt or strap - lick, stroke or swat.

If someone used their hand on your backside, you got a spanking or you got spanked.
If at school, a teacher or principal used a paddle on your backside, you got licks or a paddling.
If you got it with a belt or strap, you got belted, or a licking.

While I am appreciating all of the nuance and specificity going into some of these observations, and while I too would use different words for the blows which occur in different types of 'beatings', I am specifically asking about "spanks" versus "spankings". I have heard the latter used enough times to realize it is an accepted usage among certain people and have even just recently read a story where the number of impacts in a spanking were referred to as "spankings" as in "ten spankings" meaning ten blows within a spanking and not ten separate punishments consisting of several smacks.

I invite any user of "spankings" as described to please chime in.

KD, the use of 'ten spankings' to mean ten spanks, slaps, or swats is a new one for me. A 'spanking' in my termination is a description of the completed punishment; even though it may consist of either a large or a small number of spanks or even a single spank. Ten spankings would to me mean ten separate sessions over the knee.
Spankings IMHO also normally indicate a punishment using the hand rather than an instrument, generally over the knee, and spanks, rather than swats, would be similarly used.
Not definitive, merely my opinion; however, a fun discussion none the less!