[thedoc (OP)]

Grace Mcmeekin  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hello.

My name is Grace and my dad is a GP. He had a patient who was 90 years old, she said that when she was at school they used to get the cane on the palm of their hands, she said if they put a hair on their hand then the cane would snap. Why is this?

What do you think?

[CliffordK]

One might be able to use a hair for sawing or cutting.  Perhaps using fairly stout hair such as horse tail hair.  Maybe one could make a cheese cutter with horse tail hair.

However, if one just lays a hair on one's hand, and a twig snaps...  my guess that it is some sort of sleight of hand.  I.E. a magic trick that someone is playing on you, perhaps with a pre-broken stick, or switching them out.

[RD]

A comforting myth : wishful thinking that pupils had some protection from the cane.

Other playground myths relating to corporal punishment of the leathery kind : the tawse / strap / belt …

Then there were the stories boys told each other in the playground … the rumour would spread that the heidie's strap was studded with nails … More plausible were that tales that Mr A left the tongs of his strap steeped in vinegar so that they'd sting more or that Mr B had put the tongs of his strap in the fire to harden them.

http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Am-Fascinated-By-The-Lochgelly-Tawse/1720186