A slippering is a term for the act of smacking the buttocks, or the hands, with a slipper as a form of corporal punishment. A slippering on the buttocks is a form of spanking; it is a much more common method than slippering on the hands. The verb "to slipper" means "to give a slippering". Until at least the 1970s, slippering was widely used by British parents as a means of punishing children and adolescents.
|
|
Ishamel, a fictional character in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, recalled, in chapter four of the novel, begging his stepmother for the favor of receiving from her "a good slippering" for his misbehaviour.
|
|
As it was commonly used for corporal punishment in the British Commonwealth, where it was the typical gym shoe (part of the school uniform), plimsolling is also a synonym for a slippering. Converse All-Star canvas basketball shoes.
|
|
Dennis was deemed not popular enough to gain a full-page strip until around 1954. Many of Law's strips ended with Dennis being punished for his troublemaking with corporal punishment such as a slippering or use of a cane. Throughout the years, Law's Dennis became taller than his debut appearance. Why Law chose to do this is unknown, but many believe it was due to Law's perfectionist nature.
|
|
More typical, in that the cane was the "official" punishment, and slippering routinely used more informally, was Highbury Grove School, a large boys' school in north London."Caning for "slap happy" school", Islington Gazette, 26 May 1978 (includes picture of slippered boy). All forms of corporal punishment were banned in state schools in the UK in 1987. A ban in private schools followed in England and Wales (1999), Scotland (2000), and Northern Ireland (2003).
|
|
The routine nature of such punishment is demonstrated by the frequency with which comics of the day (e.g. The Beano and The Dandy) showed scenes in which characters such as Dennis the Menace, Roger the Dodger, Minnie the Minx and Beryl the Peril were slippered by an irate parent. There has been very little data, research or evidence compiled about the use of slippering. Information is mainly based on anecdotal reports from individuals who have given, received, or observed slipperings, or who have been in households or schools where slipperings were used.
|
|
According to a 1976-1977 survey done by the Inner London Inspection Authority's Inspectors, almost 1 in 5 girls were caned at least once in the authority's schools alone. Caning in all-girls schools were rarer but not unseen. Caning in British state schools in the later 20th century was often, in theory at least, administered by the head teacher only. Canings for primary school age pupils at state schools in this period could be extremely rare; one study found that over an eight-year timespan, one head teacher had only caned two boys in total, but made more frequent use of slippering, while another had caned no pupils at all.
|
|
The implement used in many state and private schools in England and Wales was often a rattan cane, struck either across the student's hands, legs, or the clothed buttocks. It had been very regularly used on both boys and girls in certain schools for centuries prior to the ban. Sometimes, a long ruler was used on the bare legs or hands instead of a cane. Striking the buttocks (or sometimes hands) with a rubber-soled gym shoe, or plimsoll shoe (called slippering), was also widely used in many schools. In Scotland, a leather strap, the tawse (sometimes called a belt), administered to the palms of the hands, was universal in state schools,"Rise and fall of the belt", Sunday Standard, Glasgow, 28 February 1982.
|
|