Cane marks

While the cane no doubt really hurts and when its one of this type can leave lasting marks, I'm betting Schapelle Corby (currrently serving 20 years in Kerobokan jail in Bali) for trying to smuggle drugs into the country, would have accepted the caning alternative any day of the week. Living in Melbourne I'm very familiar with trams and the simile is very fitting.

Names for various things continue to exist even if the original reason is not there any longer. For example most people call the noise on the telephone a "dial tone" or talk of dialing a telephone. When was the last time you used a telephone that had a dial? In the UK people often call vacuum cleaning "hoovering" even though nowadays Hoover is only one of many brands of vacuum cleaner that they could be using. There are countless other examples.

But what term better describes the mark left behind by a thick cane across a firm pair of soft, pale bottom cheeks than "tramline," which is exactly what such a perfectly drawn and fully developed weal resembles. I guess you could say "train tracks," which would be just as accurate a description but it does fit anywhere as well in the caning scene narrative. "Stripes" or simply "marks" are used often, but those words are very generic and just do not convey the full description of what the cane etches on soft skin.

If you didn't want to say "tramlines" I personally like the sound of "trolley tracks" rather than "train tracks".
Somehow it conjures up a more romantic image from a bygone era.