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The martinet was often applied on the calves, for children did not have to disrobe that way. Otherwise it was often applied on the bare buttocks.
It is generally considered abusive to use it on children nowadays. Still, martinets are still sold in the pet section of French supermarkets; it is generally believed that a large share of those sold are meant for use on children, not pets, or at least to threaten them.
In English, the term martinet is usually used not in reference to the whip itself, but rather him who would use it, a person who demands strict adherence to set rules, especially such a person in the military.
In an extended sense, a martinet is a person for whom rules and etiquette are paramount: martinets often use etiquette and other rules as an excuse to trump ethicsEthics is a general term for what is often described as the " science of morality". In philosophy, ethical behavior is that which is " good". The Western tradition of ethics is sometimes called moral philosophy . This is one of the three major branches of, to the point that etiquette loses its ethical ground. (In this context, one is reminded of a scene from the dystopic film Brazil, in which a secretary busily transcribes a torture session by headphones.) Pettiness and small points of order are permitted to justify duckspeakIn the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, duckspeak is a Newspeak term meaning literally to quack like a duck. Applied to an opponent, it indicates their argument is making no sense. Applied to oneself or friends, it means that they can talk noning and mask deep groupthinkGroupthink is a term coined by psychologist Irving Janis in 1972 to describe one process by which a group can make bad or irrational decisions. In a groupthink situation, each member of the group attempts to conform his or her opinions to what they believ.
And yet, while the preceding derivation is intriguing and plausible, it is also probably false.
More likely, the English sense (as well as the French?) derive from one Jean Martinet, Inspector General of the army of Louis XIV and one of the first great drill masters of modern times. It was the drill master who revolutionalized the early modern army by instituting a standardized system capable of turning raw recruits (read "draftees") into a disciplined fighting force, thereby eliminating the mercenaries and soldiers-of-fortune who had been the mainstays of earlier armies.
History records that Martinet was eventually killed by friendly fire while leading an infantry assault at the siege of Duisberg. Whether or not this was entirely accidental is, of course, a matter of conjecture.
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