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| Sore Losers |
Back in the Old West, the average cowboy didn't have a lot of money to spend on poker. He did have a tough backside, plenty of experience of spanking, a sense of humor, and a casual approach to nakedness around the bunkhouse. A spanker's paradise. Although their kangaroo courts sometimes inflicted terrible "chappings" (bare butt strappings with a pair of rolled up chaps) on thieves and other bunkhouse miscreants, playful spankings among a guy and his pals were an innocent pastime in those carefree days.
Never heard of "chappings". Is this made up or something real? If real what is the history of it and are there examples to view?
ReplyDeleteChapping was very real to the many unlucky cowboys who suffered it!
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a picture of it, but I've run into several references to it in books. It was sometimes done to punish real offenses like stealing, sometimes for silly things like failing to perform some cowboy task properly, but apparently usually for the bare delight (to the chappers!).
Cowboys had an institution called a "kangaroo court" where culprits would be "tried". No real evidence was presented, just absurd and unaswerable allegations. The inevitable result was a chapping, and the only point of the lengthy "court" was to make the cowboy squirm and sweat in anticipation of the unavoidable spanking he knew was coming.
Just another of the many fascinating forms this male spanking impulse takes!
At http://www.cowboypoetry.com/buckramsey1.htm a cowboy says:
"Once at Ruidoso when one of the poets got married on the stage a group of cowboys chapped him right there on the stage. Buck hid the chaps in his wheel chair then handed them to me and when the boys had him secured I wielded the chaps. Buck was a great friend..."
I think bridegrooms always have a sexy kind of glow to them. I'd love to see those wedding pictures!
Thanks for the information. I am not a real western fiction fan, however, I may explore the area in the future. I will also visit the cowboy poetry website you mentioned.
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