A tawse is or the tawse are?

On another site someone corrected me by saying that tawse is plural, such as scissors or trousers, and not singular. He said that tawse, or taws, comes from Scots words meaning tails and that it is plural. A number of them would still be tawse and not tawses. However in two American dictionaries tawse is defined as singular and scissors are plural.

Since there are a number Scots people on this site I was wondering, how do you use tawse? As singular or as plural?

Well I'm English not a Scot but my Mistress owns several Tawse of differing thickness, weight and number of tails. I personally think several Tawse is just that 'Tawse' Tawses doesn't sound right to me but what do I know? I know they hurt very much! if that helps.

I'm not Scottish, but I think that it is (they are?) best applied across bare buttocks.

...but traditionally used on the hand.

I found this on Wiki. Hope it helps:

The tawse, sometimes formerly spelled taws (the plural of Scots taw, a thong of a whip) is an implement used for corporal punishment. It was used for educational discipline, primarily in Scotland, but also in schools in the English cities of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, Manchester and Walsall.

This article then implies that if our characters spank with only one of these it should be referred to as a taw!

I imagine that in modern-day usage tawse has become an identical singular and plural noun, much like fish, sheep, rice etc.

And if I'm wrong.... well...

It just goes to show you that tradition can be a horrible guide.

Traditionally yes they were used on the hands but I personally think the bottom is better suited. I've received it on my hands and it's very painful and I think it could do damage, it's also very painful on the bottom but at least there is some padding there!

The OED says it can be singular or plural; I think I'll stick with singular, otherwise it reads oddly.

Never seen the point of spanking on the hands when the bottom is so perfectly designed for it. Way sexier, too.

Tawse is or are? To quote a notable US ex-pres, "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is."

So far nobody from Scotland has replied. To clarify what I'm interested in, how would Scots people use tawse in their normal speech? Would they say, "He has a slipper, a tawse and a cane"? Is that correct? Or would they say "He has a slipper, the tawse and a cane"? Saying something like "She has three tawse" sounds a bit odd but saying "She has three tawses" also sounds odd.

In other words, when writing dialog is singular or plural the normal usage in Scotland?