My Maths teacher in the sixth form at an all-boys school was a very quietly spoken and respected gentleman who on one occasion asked a boy who had repeatedly failed to produce homework, “Tor****, do you know what a swishing is?” On the hesitant reply of “Yes, sir” he was told to “come to see me in my room after school today.”
We all knew what was to happen although I doubt if any of us had heard the expression “swishing” before.
The only parallel words uttered to me in the headmaster’s study were, “I’m going to cane you!”