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I was not exactly a model student in primary school (Brisbane, 1960s), so visits to the Principal's office for one or two "cuts" with the whippy cane applied to the back of the legs happened a couple of times a year, or as many as "six of the best" for a particularly bad transgression.
The red welts were a badge of honour amongst your class mates, but you'd try to hide them from your parents, because they would want to know what you did wrong - and their sympathies would reside with the Principal rather than their son!
On one occasion in Year 7, I was wrongly identified by a teacher as being involved in a schoolyard brawl. (I was only watching, not fighting - but I might have been egging on the participants a bit!) We were all rounded up and sent to the office for 6 each. One by one, we went into the Principal's office; when it was my turn, I received my 6 cuts, and then the Principal asked me "Well, boy - do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"Yes, Sir, I didn't do it!"
The Principal looked at me, and concluded I was telling the truth (probably because I'd never protested my innocence in the past). "Hmmmm ... but I suppose there have been several other times when you got away with something?"
"Ummm ... yes, Sir, I suppose so ..."
"Very well - consider this your punishment for those past transgressions. Out! Next!"
I left his office thinking it was "a fair cop"!
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