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Comment by MrOwnPut | Hacker News Reader

> How can you define spanking without using a term like "hitting?"

You call it spanking, or slapping on the bum.

Hitting colloquially gives the impression of a closed-fist.

> seems odd to have the person in authority return the favor by hurting the kids as punishment

The world is not fair. You can pick and choose rules based on a moral code but things like dress code, drugs, etc. are the institutional rules and they have setup consequences, agree with them or not.

And if you're hurting the child you aren't spanking, you're beating.

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> You call it spanking, or slapping on the bum.

this is circular logic

> Hitting colloquially gives the impression of a closed-fist.

it does not

> And if you're hurting the child you aren't spanking, you're beating.

what the hell is spanking then? you're not hitting the kid or hurting the kid apparently. is it just another term for a 'stern talking-to?'

> this is circular logic

Are you trying to get into a semantic debate because you don't want to do the philosophical one?

You're choosing words with a connotation you know are more extreme.

So you avoid basic words like slap and use a basic word like strike. For the connotation.

> Hitting colloquially gives the impression of a closed-fist.

You don't speak for all of society. So we're 1:1 right now. Let's take a poll.

When describing a fight, you see one person using open hand, one person using closed fist.

You wouldn't say one is slapping, one is hitting?

> what the hell is spanking then? you're not hitting the kid or hurting the kid apparently. is it just another term for a 'stern talking-to?'

It's the fear of the whole process. It's the next level after being sent into the corner or something.

> Hitting colloquially gives the impression of a closed-fist.

Hitting does not imply closed fist.

It doesn't imply it to you or are you speaking for everyone?

It does for me and I'd assume many others, otherwise you'd use "slap".

Let's take a poll.

In baseball, how is it when players hit the ball, it does not damage their knuckles?

The words "fist" and "knuckle" do not even appear on M-W's definition of hit. "Fists" appears in a sample sentence that would be redundant if "hit" assumed "fists." https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hit

the player doesn't hit the ball, the bat does.

when a baseball player gets slapped on the butt after a good run, would you say their teammate hit or struck them?

semantic debates are fun, how'd we get here? :)

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