When I attended a rather strict private girls school in London's east end in the late 1970s, it was common practice for some of the games mistresses to grab a naughty girl by the ear before giving her a good seeing to. I wonder if the act of having your ear sqeezed constitutes corporal punishment and if this was technically illegal after 1990. Would this be covered under any regulations currently enforcible by the European Union or any other international body?

This is a very interesting topic, and as far as I know this issue has never been addressed before either on this forum or any other for that matter.
I remember my games mistress would sometimes tug the ear as a prelude to a seeing to. Whether the actual tugging of the ear is illegal has never to my knowledge been tested in a court of law. Even international law is unclear on this issue. Do any of our more erudite contributors have any views on this issue?

I attended a very prestigious and exclusive private girls school in Glasgow. Well my ears got pulled quite a lot when I was 17-18. There were 3 or 4 female teachers who'd do it anytime I or my classmates did something wrong on misbehaved. In 6th form we had this very strict teacher and she was really agressive with our ears.

She would pull them for no apparent reason at all. She'd always catch the ear in the middle or slightly above the lobe and pull back and forth many times, our ears were qite red as and it was not very comfortable.

I loved to watch my classmates having their ears pulled. It happened several times a day. I always had a bit larger ears so I was receiving ear pulling on almost a daily basis. Some earing pulling was a prelude to a smacking but often the ear pulling itself was the punishment. I thought it was a bit childish, but in those days Miss was always right.

Any physical contact whatsoever is a no no. My ex teacher friend tells me there is one line you do not cross and that is familiarity. You teach they learn and thats it.

Yes, it happened in my boy's grammar to a fellow pupil in my first year(63-64). Not my class, another one of the 4 alpha-streamed classes.

After the same trainee teacher repeated the ear-pulling/tweaking trick, he was moved on pretty quickly before it got to court. This was in the day when any teacher could theoretically get away with anything, but the Headmaster was adamant that what was once acceptable in teaching was definitely out of place in the modern educational system;he'd been our Head for 22 years, too!

As the 2nd instance was simply the result of someone not grasping algebra when presented with it for the first time, that made the matter even worse. The Head did say that even much worse offences than this did not merit that sort of barbarism.

This was also at a time when Headmasters were still God-like in their image/demeanour etc. So it took a lot for an 11-year old to go to him and complain, especially as the lad had to admit he hadn't given the maths due attention in the first place.

But then I always did have a sense of justice! As did the Head, who thought the matter should go to court; unfortunately, I was merciful at that age.

So, you'd better get sueing for assault-it's still actionable after 40 years, let alone 25. And that includes Scotland. And what schools were these august establishments of yours that civilisation had passed by, girls?


Steve M

Ear pulling was almost an Olympic sports event at school-Catholic and State primary school and secondary

I had the pleasure of having my ear nearly pulled off by a PE teacher because I told him I didn't like Cricket. The PE teacher was Jack Potter-a Victorian State Cricketer who took an instant dislike to me over my comment telling me I was un-Australian. My answer to that was at least the sun didn't fry my brain on the cricket oval because Cricket was not an Australian invention.

I also remember teachers twisting your ear, holding it in a vice like grip and pushing you away and pulling you back so your head would bounce into their fist.

The most prolific ear tugger at my school was the gym mistress. But this was only to haul you out in front of the class for a smacking. If the smacking was legal, as I presume it was in those days, then you would have to assume that the ear pulling was also legal.

If ear pulling was an actionable offense then there would not be enough money in the Bank of England to pay the compensation, and that is just to me alone, regardless of all the other girls at my school who had their ears tugged. I seriously doubt if any court would even entertain awarding compensation for ear pulling. Then again I do not suppose anybody has ever tried. It would make an interesting precedent. Let's say 10000 Scottish pounds per ear. I would not like to think what a 12 stroke tawsing would be worth in today's money.

I would not mind a serve of that 10000 Scottish pounds per ear. What would that be worth in $US where I currently live? I did all my schooling in the UK. Actually I cannot remember the gym mistress pulling my ears, but some of the other class teachers did. The actual ear pulling was seldom the punishment alone, you usually got soundly smacked bottom or legs to go with it. I suppose it must have been legal at the time, since I never remember any girls objecting.

I currently live in Europe but did some of my senior years schooling in the UK.
I can remember having my ears squeezed by some of the female teachers. Is there any chance the compensation can be converted into euros? By the way, what is the exchange rate between the Scottish pound and the euro?

Our games mistress used to grab our ears while telling us off. She did not release her grip until she had bent you over. You then got 6 or 8 of the best across the bottom. I am sure that must be worth at least $10000.

The games mistress sometimes pulled your ears in the change room if you were too slow getting changed. This was often accompanied by a few hard smacks.
I cannot remember any of the other teachers pulling a girl's ear. I thought it was ridiculous to say the least, but in those days you did not talk back to any teachers,let alone the games teacher. If anybody is contemplating a class action, include me in. What are we talking here? $2,000,000 plus.

To those of you who are already totalling up your claims: proof positive of the avaricious times we live in. If you want to earn money that cheaply, I suggest you have a punt on your local lottery - you might have more chance there.
So what's with a bit of ear pulling? What about the hair-pulling and kicking in the playground. Are you now going to sue that bullying Becky Taylor that you always hated because you hair doesn't grow like it used to?
It was all part of the ridicule of the day. How many comics used to show mothers (in particular) grabbing their charges by the ear before marching them off for a spanking? Dennis the Menace is one that easily comes to mind.
I appreciate that some of your comments may have been written in jest, but it simply shows how many of us know the price of everything and the value of nothing these days. Mind you, I blame the press. Everybody now has their house, car and salary valued by the press. Many of these are way off the mark. I know people whose details have been reported in the press, and the value of their homes (for example) is vastly inflated, just like some of the claims on this forum!

For the benefit of our (largely uneducated apparently) fun posters:

There is no such thing now as the 'Scottish Pound', nor has there been since the Act of Union in 1707. Scotland, like the rest of the United Kingdom, uses the Pound Sterling. Three Scottish banks, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Bank of Scotland and the Clydesdale Bank, do issue their own bank notes, which, like the notes issued by the Bank of England, are denominated in Pounds Sterling and are legal tender throughout the United Kingdom.

There is also no such thng as compo for ear pulling...

Sshh Mimi, don't tell them, they might lose hope and go away, and then what will we have to laugh at?

You are of course absolutely correct. So far as I am aware all the cases where retrospective compensation has been obtained for school punishments in the UK have involved an element of demonstrable sexual abuse. Ear pulling, like the clip round the ear beloved of policemen and responsible adults who caught you misbehaving when I was a lad, may be be painful, but is not sexual abuse.

Of course, many of our fun posters do not, apparently, live in the UK, so the interpretation of their judiciary may differ. Be that as it may, I am 100% certain that they will not be compensated in Scottish Pounds!

I think that, in fact, the banknotes issued by the three Scottish banks are not formally legal tender in the UK (not even in Scotland), but they are accepted readily in most shops in Scotland and northern England.

Of course, as Another-Lurker correctly said, these notes are denominated in Pounds Sterling.

My distinguished fellow contributor Alan Turing is indeed correct. Notes issued by Scottish banks are not legal tender anywhere, not even in Scotland. Notes issued by the Bank of England are legal tender only in England and Wales. The old Bank of England one pound note was also legal tender in Scotland, but following its demise only coins are legal tender in Scotland. I am indebted to Alan Turing for causing me to revise and extend my knowledge, a practice I commend to our current crop of fun posters!

It should be noted though that in past years I visited Scotland very frequently and usually left with a quantity of notes issued by Scottish banks. I have paid for transactions with these notes as far south as London and Bristol, and in North Wales, without any problems.

That is all very interesting but surely Scottish pounds can be converted into other currencies. Does anybody know the respective exchange rates?

Our gym mistress used to massage both our ears simultaneously when we played up. This was usually a warning that if we played up again we would be seen too in a much harsher manner. It was very effective since most girls improved their behavior after that.

I remember when I was in my final year at Boarding school we had a new games mistress that would stand behind you and grab both of your ears. She would then simultaneously oscillate them vertically but at different frequencies. This was very unsettling and most girls were not too keen on this type of treatment. However to my knowledge no girl ever protested about it.

I think the reason that she was oscillating your ears at different frequencies was to create an interference pattern. I believe that this was a technique that was very common in some UK schools after the abolition of cp, since technically it did not constitute cp, but certainly improved the behavior of most girls. I believe it was only used by teachers with some sort of maths background. Obviously that particular gym mistress must have also taught maths at senior level. It was not uncommon in those days for some gym teachers to also teach other subjects, even at senior level.

You are quite right Celine. She was a senior maths teacher, and she ran a very strict classroom. Even senior girls were not exempted from a trip to the front desk if they misbehaved. However I cannot remember any lessons involving the term "interference" in the context you speak of. I was actually very good at maths and exceptionally well behaved, consequently I was hardly ever called to the front. Thank you for your reply.

A lot of female sports teachers, or games mistresses, as they were sometimes referred to, did teach a lot of different subjects besides p.e


This was because I believe they had to gain a general teaching degree before being allowed to teach, and I think this would have included many subjects including maths.

I remember that in form 6, our games mistress was also our maths teacher for one term because our usual teacher was on leave. She was really good but did not smack senior girls in front of the class, but was known to smack during p.e lessons or sport where she also sometimes grabbed you by one or both ears.

However in a regular classroom situation she was a completely different person and did not even allude to c.p. She had a very well behaved class because nearly all the girls thought that she might use c.p in front of the class like she did in the gym etc. But she never did.

Actually her knowledge of mathematics was quite exceptional. I have to admit I am not familiar with the term "interference" as a mathematical term, although I was probably not as good at maths as you obviously were. I thought that she was the best classroom teacher I ever had, and most girls agreed with me.

I think that our junior members might be thinking of the well-known formula

   sin A + sin B = 2 sin((A+B)/2) cos((A-B)/2).

But that's not really interference.

May I draw to the attention of you young lady ear pulling enthusiasts to the sufferings of girls, and indeed boys, in the Indian Subcontinent where a punishment known as murgha (sometimes murga) was, and indeed may still be, a disciplinary measure in some schools.

I won't bore you with the details, a little research on the web will soon unearth plenty of those, but suffice it to say that it involved painful physical contortions, considerable humiliation and the 'victim' was required to pull her (or his) own ears!

Very interesting forum. I am a bit of a net surfer but have never come across a forum such as this before. I live in South America, and although there is no c.p there now, it was relatively common when I did my secondary schooling. I can assure you that ear twisting is not a unique English punishment for girls. Also most of the teachers who took us for sport were not specialist sports teachers but just ordinary classroom teachers who had some sort of interest in sport.

As far as I can remember they were not particularly strict, and some could not control the girls at all. However I remember one particular sports mistress as you called them, this would also be the approximate translation from Portuguese,who did twist our ears as well as attempt to smack us. But is was done in a somewhat light hearted way and we would all get a good laugh about it.

Some of the classroom teachers did smack in a more serious way, but not to the extent that I have read about on your forum. I find a lot of the messages, very interesting and quite funny. I have travelled to the UK in the past and intend to do so in the future. I remember some of my UK girlfriends talking about their school experiences, some of which sound similar to some stories I read on your forum.

Subscriptions Manager, I appreciate that your workload must be very considerable at present, but if you have time could we possibly have confirmation that Carlita is indeed resident in South America? Her style bears a remarkable resemblance to that of some of our existing outed 'lady' fun posters, but that may of course be coincidence.

Oi dun now about all this trignomtry stuff, all I does no is that if you set it all out and it don't fit tis a cock up....

Please show a little respect.

Respect like wages has to be earned. Your inuendo is in your dirty mind.

One of the student teachers we had used to make us grab our own ear then lead us away by the arm that was holding on to our own ear. I did not see the point of this but was too timid to argue with her at the time.

Ear twisting in all its many versions was also quite popular at my boarding school and even rivaled tawsing as the preferred method of behavior modification for naughty girls.

One of the more effective variations was to instruct the girl to grab her right ear with her left hand while simultaneously holding her left ear with her right hand. This would produce a very convenient juxtaposition of the elbows which could be used as a "handle" if you will , so as to enable the teacher, usually the gym mistress, to easily guide the young scallywag to a more secluded location where some more serious attention might be considered. This very innovative procedure was I believe pioneered by a very young teacher from the Midlands. She was very well known for this and most girls behaved very well in her classes.

Hello Nancy

There is actually a very interesting variation of the method you so eloquently described which was introduced to my school by a Canadian teacher around 1979 while I was in my senior year. Now since I do not have your English skills I will borrow some of the terms you used. I hope you do not mind.

Now this particular teacher who incidentally was a former Commonwealth games athlete, would instruct the girl to do as you said, but in such a way as not to produce a juxtaposition of the elbows. This would leave one elbow in a very convenient position so that the teacher could easily guide her to some other location. However this did not involve a smacking, but a very severe talking to instead. But it was still very effective. I suppose there are many variations of this method. But strangely enough the girl is actually twisting her own ears so technically this is not cp, and I guess even quite acceptable even by today's standards.

I often lead mon fille de amour au le chambre de lit by ze ear lobe, she gives out ( complains) all the way. To no effect other than extra spanks.......

The last two methods while admittedly being very innovative would not I feel be as effective as the simultaneous vertical oscillations that were designed to produce a standing wave pattern. This is because the girls would not in all probability have enough knowledge to synchronise the frequencies by rubbing their own ears. This could only done by some third party, usually the gym mistress. Even then, this would be no easy task. So I suggest that we discard the last two methods. However we thank the woman concerned for their valuable contributions.

I still say the most effective and easiest method would be the double ear massage. The other methods are far too complicated and require a level of technical knowledge and expertise which most teachers would not possess. What say you?

A Warning!

I am happy to note that no one has commented on my posting above regarding murga punishment, and I trust therefore that no one has sought information regarding it on the web. If you do so please be cautious and heed any warnings given by your chosen search engine or your anti-malware utilities.

When I first became aware of this somewhat exotic method of school CP a few years ago there were various Indian Subcontinent based forums in which schoolgirls rather indignantly complained of its use in mixed classes and schoolboys enthusiastically advocated its use on their female classmates. Boys will be boys the world over!

Thinking to check that anyone following up my posting above would still find the same information I subsequently had a look on Google. Those forums are still there, but sadly a couple of them are now being used to drop Trojans. A sad fate, but one that has overtaken even Network54 on a few occasions.

To save anyone not adequately protected from risking problems here is Wikipedia's description of the punishment, slightly anglicised as I dislike some of the Americanisms therein:

Murga (also spelled murgha) is a form of punishment mostly used in the Indian subcontinent, i.e India, Pakistan, etc. Murga means "Adult male chicken" in Hindi. This is a punishment in which the punished person takes the position of a "murga". This is done by squatting, and then bringing the arms between the legs and firmly holding the ears. It can be very painful after a few minutes. Murga can also be used as a position for spanking, thought it is rarely used.

There are many variants of the murga punishment. Some of them are:

Standing Murga In standing murga, the bottom of the person should be held as high as possible. This is considered a severe punishment and can get very very painful after 10 minutes.

Sitting Murga In sitting murga, the person is allowed to rest their bottom on their arms, i.e the bottom can be brought down. This is milder than the standing murga, and can be bearable for longer durations.

Murga Parade In murga parade, the person in addition to being in murga position, has to walk. It can be either standing or sitting murga. However, more distance can be covered if it is done in standing murga. This can be extremely tiring for both legs, hands and back. This punishment can be made harsher by making the person parade under the sun. If done properly, it will hurt the ears also, because of irregular movements.

Heels Touching Murga In this type of murga, the heels of the person should remain in contact. It can also be either sitting or standing. This is a very severe form of murga.

I assume that the irregular ear movements produced by Murga Parade would not produce the standing wave pattern advocated by Ellie May, nonetheless those who have experienced this punishment seem in general to comment that it is both painful and humiliating.

This thread seems to have more twists than Chubby Checker. I think I need a cup of tea, a Bex, and a good lie down.

Carl is posting from the part of South America known as 'Germany'. He is very closely related to Asquith/Celine.

Now that I have fully recovered and have gathered my wits I am ready to join the fray once more. The more extreme forms of Murga must be avoided at all costs. However the milder forms are mostly simple variations of ear twisting so why bother.

I favour the good old Chicken Madras, rather than the Murga

I think the irrepressible Lurker has really thrown a cat among the pigeons with his introduction of Murga. However since I am very busy at the moment, what with my two cousins, Carlita and Esmerelda visiting from Rio, and young Asquith starting up his new website, I think I need a well earned rest.

Esmerelda is a few years my senior (although she looks reasonably good for her age) and did all her schooling in the UK, so she is no stranger to tawse or slipper. I will therefore hand my quill over to her for the minute. Thank you all for your time and patience.

Goodbye for now, but hope to be back quite soon.

I think I can speak on behalf of all the members of this forum in offering our best wishes to Celine and hope she comes back soon. It would also be remiss of me and all other contributors to this prestigious forum if we did not wish young Asquith well in his new venture.

Thank you, Subscriptions Manager. Your dedication to duty and determination to remain at your post in the face of the hordes of ravening fun posters cannot be too highly commended. Your reassuring presence is why I'm still here, and I suspect the same will apply to other longer established contributors to this estimable Forum!

I am seriously concerned at the overcrowded conditions which must now be extant around the keyboard of Asquith/Celine/Abbey/Carlita/Esmaralda. Do they have a specially built computer chair to accommodate 5 persons? I think we should be told!

Seriously, I should be most grateful for an explanation fron any one of the 'five' (or indeed anyone else who thinks they know the answer) as to what the point of it all is.

What possible pleasure can anyone get from posting under 5 different names when everyone knows that it is the same person behind the posts? The odd alternative character to be deployed in special circumstances, such as my distinguished fellow contributor Alan Turing employs I can understand. Our Australian friend(s) currently amusing us in the 'Stone the flamin' Crows!' and 'Sports Celebraties who were Caned at School' threads I can understand. Asquith etc. I simply don't get. Any elucidation gratefully received.

Since I have not formally introduced myself, my name is Esmerelda. I am a resident of Rio (Brasil) but am currently visiting my cousin Celine and her young boyfriend Asquith. They live on the continent and we all are of Swiss origin.
My other cousin Carlita is also visiting. Since Celine is quite busy these days she has asked me to hold the fort, so to speak and post the odd message on this very impressive forum. Thank you for your time and patience.

Esmerelda

Welcome Esmerelda.

Christ on a proverbial crutch......

Thank you Heidi for those very kind words of encouragement. It is obvious you are a young woman with grace, style, wit and tolerance.

I attended a very strict private girls school and received nearly every type of punishment described on this forum with one exception. I have never had my ears bent, pulled, squeezed, massaged, oscillated or touched in any way shape or form. Whether anybody wants to believe me or not is their business. I think that manipulating the ears as a form of punishment is too ridiculous to even contemplate. As for all those complicated variations described, well give me a break. I did not realise that ear twisting had been elevated to the status of rocket science.

As for elevating the legendary gym mistress to the status of saint, well I will leave that for others to judge. But to be fair most of the gym mistresses at my school were great and I really liked sport. That might not sit well with some, but it is what it is.

Coodgee Piers, does anyone remember Coojee Bear?

That message is about as interesting as a wandering apostrophe.

B, you really have not got a clue.

I do not wish to sound naive, or to expose myself as not being as well versed in the intricacies of the English language as some of the more erudite contributors, but what is a wandering apostrophe?

Look it up on the net, English Grammer.
There are those that say that there are rules as to where an apostrophe should be placed. Those rules are legitimatly broken in certain instances. Therefore the rules are subject to interpretation.

Are there any international conventions regarding the use of a wandering apostrophe as far as you know. Also has anybody been tried under international law for either ignoring these conventions or simply refusing to go along with them?

For a definitive specification, please see "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by Lynne Truss, published byu Profile Books in 2003, ISBN 1-86197-612-7. It was a popular Christmas present in 2003.

I have not read that particular book yet, but it is certainly on my "to do" list.

Compulsory reading for sure.

I think I'll wait for the movie.

I am a teacher in a Sr. School in India (a mix school). I have studied also in the same school.Murga punishment was a very harsh form of cp.Iam sorry for those who live in their fantasy world, but this form of cp was given to boys only.it was agroup punishment for naughty boys ,given prior or after cane.Girls were immune from it. Only stand Murga or Murga Parade were given , sitting murga was considered as disobedience and resulted in severe caning. We girls used to enjoy watching the game.Head boy or head girl could only advice the teacher for MP of any boy ,but finally teacher could order for MP.If boys were reported for caning in principal office , during waiting time his secratory could order for standing murga punishment(not herself but on behalf of the principal). Some teachers mostly ladies, often orderd boys to become Murga out side the class room to avoid disturbance in the teaching .They were severely caned by principal on his round.As a teacher I still use this form of cp but very rately ,and to the boys only. Girls although enjoy,watching MP of boys,keeps quiet.I still remember when I was a student in my Sr. School one boy was given MP by a teacher . Poor boy's trouser was very tight .On bending forward there was s sound and to our pleasant surprise his BB was visible. The teacher could not resist herself and gave four of the best on his BB. This was the first and last time we enjoyed BB cane of a boy!