I am in the midst of my annual thrashing from my wife. Day 6 of 10 to be precise. Cane, avon bath brush, cord today. She does it every year for my misdeeds. This year we agreed would be especially severe.....
That is easy to answer: Avon used to make very hard, heavy, slightly flexible bath brushes with wide heads. They featured circular embossing in the head, recessed deeply with a pattern filling the recess that is raised. Several designs exist for the pattern including the so-called Birds of Paradise design. These were supposedly for use in the bath but a fat more effective use emus as an instrument of punishment because each stroke with one of these leave a golf ball sized welt with the embossing clearly visible. You can imagine the rest.....