Word!

I am a big proponent of words.  I do believe very strongly in semantics, and am usually very careful with the words I choose.  Ironically, I also believe that words are never sufficient to convey even a fraction of a thought they're being used to represent.  Still, words are interesting and powerful.

I recently finished more than a year of physical therapy--visiting a physical therapist twice a week, and up to 4 & 1/2 hours of P.T. exercises every day--first for a herniated disk, overlapped by a minor ankle surgery.  Not long ago, there was a P.T. "volunteer" who basically shadowed my therapist (P.T. students earn practicum hours by working for no pay at a P.T. center).  The place I was going specializes in dancers and dance injuries, so this volunteer was a tall, slender, beautiful young lady with a dancer's body.  As you can probably imagine, I already had enough trouble keeping my eyes (and sometimes my tongue) in my head at this place, and I had to put out extra effort to keep from locking my eyes onto Katie's lovely, lithe limbs.

I've known my physical therapist for a number of years, having been her patient several times before (the lot of a professional dancer), and we often talk about her family and personal life.  One particular session, my therapist was discussing a boy in her young son's ballet class, who was barred from returning (pun intended--dance humor, for those who know...), and the conversation turned to "class clowns", who tend to get others in trouble while remaining unscathed.  The very friendly, good-natured Katie joined the conversation with a story of how she once got into trouble:  she and her sister were watching a horror movie, and her sister (as all siblings are required to do) startled her, to which she reacted with a scream.  Apparently, in her household, screaming was prohibited so she got in trouble with her father, despite her reasoning with him that the fault was not hers.  This was an interesting story, appropriate for the conversation and told well (despite my abridged version); but it took a sharp turn in my deviant mind when she finished with the sentence that instantly seared into my memory forever, "So yeah...spanked."

With that one dangled word, a floodgate of curiosity (and desire, quite frankly) opened in my head, most of which I had to immediately quell, both in order to concentrate on the exercises I had to do for the rest of the session, and to make sure I showed no physical evidence of where my thoughts went (if you know what I mean--I was wearing tights...)!  There are so many things I still wish I could ask her--firstly about her story's specifics.  How old was she when this took place?  Was she spanked right there in front of her sister, or taken into another room?  Was her bottom clothed, or bared for the spanking (she's from the South, so the traditions are different from my own childhood, and therefore extremely intriguing to me)?  Was she spanked with an implement--a paddle or belt?  How long did the spanking last?  Was she sent to her room afterward (if she wasn't already there), or to a corner, or did she return to the couch she had been sharing with her sister? 

These questions led to more general questions and thoughts about her spanking life.  I imagined (fantasized) that this spanking happened within the last year (she never indicated how long it had been since the story took place).  I pictured this adult Katie over her father's knee, being paddled with a hairbrush on her bare bottom, and contrasted that in my mind with the idea of a teenage Katie getting the same.  I wonder, still, when she was last spanked, or if her family continues to implement (pun!) spanking to this day.  I wonder what items she's been spanked with.  I wonder if, like me, she has any desire to have spanking in her current life.  Most of all, I wonder what that incredibly lovely bottom would look like, smirking up at me from across my lap, painted in pink from the strident caress of my palm.

All these thoughts still haunt me, just from the casual utterance of that word: "spanked".  The word "spank" has always had this power over me.  Hopeful excitement courses through my veins upon hearing it, and disappointment crushes me to hear it used as a misnomer.  The word itself is taboo; I rarely speak it aloud, and crave hearing it from others.  There is an innocence to the word, intertwined with pure eroticism.  That is a big reason why it can be so sensual to be made to say it, or make someone say it; why I love to hear someone required to ask for a spanking.

There are a few words that affect me in this way, and always have.  When talking about spanking, I use the word "bottom", which I rarely use among normal acquaintances.  Again, "bottom" carries with it a sense of innocence for me, and the word seems to have the onomatopoeic curve of the area it describes--smooth and soft--just as "spank" carries the sound and impact of its corresponding action, but with a cheerfulness that makes me smile.  I am intensely affected by the word "panties", and, despite loving the sound of the word, have difficulty saying it aloud.  I was aware of my passion for panties at a very young age, even before I acknowledged my affinity for spanking.  Finding the concepts somehow related, I am ensorcelled by bottoms clad in panties, especially when those bottoms are being spanked!

There are phrases that are effective too:  "over-the-knee" has become haphazard to me, but "over my knee" has much more erotic effect for me.  On the other hand, many words and phrases turn me off.  One girl that I gave a few spankings to referred to them as "hitting"--which left my passion entirely soured.  Even worse, I despise hearing a lot of swearing from a spanker!  There are some spanking video sites that do this often, and I cannot bear to even watch their wares; hearing a "mother" using horrific language while spanking her "teenage daughter" implies terrible, unloving parenting to me, which slaughters the innocence and care that I find so enticing in spanking.  The same is the case for the teacher/student scenario:  I would have no respect for any teacher who swears at students--respect is an essential part of spanking, even in a fantasy scenario (I'm not talking about master/mistress domination stuff here--although there still is a respect even there, at least from the submissive)!

I find it fascinating that two words that mean the same thing can have such different effects on me.  A "spanking" delights me, but a "whipping" does nothing.  A "paddling", however...... *impish grin*

I would love to hear what words affect you, Dear Reader!