Tickle Style

I was thinking recently that I wish there was “official” terminology for tickle style, sort of like there is terminology for tickle role (ler/lee). Of course, as with the ler/lee designation, most people would probably be somewhere in the middle (switch) but still having a general preference. For me, I know that even though I like ticking guys I could never be just the ler because I need to be tickled. So, as a general preference, I am predominantly a lee.

I think it would be nice to have something similar for tickle style that works in pairs like the ler/lee terminology. Here is what I have so far....

In a tickle session, would you rather spend MOST TIME doing:

sweet sensual tickling (SST) ……OR…… sadistic tickle torture (STT)
light tickling ……………….....…OR…… extreme tickling
tickle massage …………..………OR…… tickle torture
sensual tickling ………..……..…OR…… sadistic tickling
erotic tickling …………..…….…OR…… playful tickling
sweet tickling …………..…….…OR…… evil tickling
smooth tickling ………..……...…OR…… rough tickling

What do you think of the idea of terminology for tickle style? Do any of these ideas appeal to you? Or do you have any to suggest? Or maybe this already exists and someone can point this newbie to the right place 🙂

You should define your terms, because it looks like a lot of them overlap with each other. For example, evil and sadistic are kind of the same. And it's not really clear what light and extreme mean, that is different from sweet and evil. Different people have different ideas of these things.

Overall I think it's a cool idea, if everyone agrees on definitions. Then we could have tickler Myers-Briggs personality types. You know? Like, I'm a type SEB, or something, for "sadistic, erotic, bondage." And then we could match people up based on their type.

tickling style

i like all the one's on the left : ) well, and playful tickling on the right.

Is there a category for "Whatever gets the best reaction from my 'lee?"

I was thinking it could be used in profiles like ler/lee/switch is used so you know what role a person likes in tickling.

I guess I'm just looking for a way to say I like the light, sweet, sensual kind of tickling most of the time as opposed to enjoying the sadistic tickle torture. I did a personal and I sent "mixed messages" (instead of being playful like I was hoping) so I'd like a way of being clear about what I am looking for.

So on the profiles the choices are "ler/lee/both" for tickle role. And I'm wondering if there is something for tickle style like "sensual/sadistic/both" or some of the other equivalent words. I realize that most people are going to pick both like most people probably pick both for "ler/lee/both."

sabaki said:

You should define your terms, because it looks like a lot of them overlap with each other. For example, evil and sadistic are kind of the same. And it's not really clear what light and extreme mean, that is different from sweet and evil. Different people have different ideas of these things.

Overall I think it's a cool idea, if everyone agrees on definitions. Then we could have tickler Myers-Briggs personality types. You know? Like, I'm a type SEB, or something, for "sadistic, erotic, bondage." And then we could match people up based on their type.

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TickleMePleeze said:

I was thinking it could be used in profiles like ler/lee/switch is used so you know what role a person likes in tickling.

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Yes, I think this is a really fabulous idea.

Of course some people can decide to remain neutral and not choose a type for themself. But I think most people have an overall preference, all else being equal.

If you come up with some good axes for the type space, I'm 110% for this idea.

I think some good ones are sexual/nonsexual; light/heavy (by which I mean, tickling that is pleasurable and easy to take, versus tickle torture); bondage/no bondage; playful/serious (by which I mean, friendly tickling as in a fun tickle fight, versus more D/s aspects. Perhaps I need a thesaurus...).

Every other idea I can think of turns into some variation of light/heavy .

When thinking up a scheme like this, make sure you provide clear definintions for your terms, and/or give a good deal of thought to the words you choose. For example, light/heavy could refer either to the amount of pressure being applied (brushing gently over the skin vs. digging in), or the intensity of the experience (lighthearted and playful vs. serious tickle torture). Obviously, "heavy" play can be done with a "light" touch, or vice versa, so such ambiguous terms should probably be avoided.

In addition, just for ease of use, if you can boil down many descriptions into just a few nonredundant categories, you should.

Anyway, it's a fun topic just to think about. I'll put some thought into what categories I think are essential. 🙂

My answers in bold

sweet sensual tickling (SST) ……OR…… sadistic tickle torture (STT)
Sadistic

light tickling ……………….....…OR…… extreme tickling
Extreme

tickle massage …………..………OR…… tickle torture
Torture

erotic tickling …………..…….…OR…… playful tickling
Both are good - with a platoniic friend, the latter; a lover, the former

sweet tickling …………..…….…OR…… evil tickling
Evil

smooth tickling ………..……...…OR…… rough tickling
It depends on what gets the better response

LindyHopper said:

When thinking up a scheme like this, make sure you provide clear definintions for your terms, and/or give a good deal of thought to the words you choose. For example, light/heavy could refer either to the amount of pressure being applied (brushing gently over the skin vs. digging in), or the intensity of the experience (lighthearted and playful vs. serious tickle torture). Obviously, "heavy" play can be done with a "light" touch, or vice versa, so such ambiguous terms should probably be avoided.

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Not only that, but it's very difficult to find terms that are not ambiguous. For example, a "light" session may mean very different things to different people.

I recall telling a certain quite feisty 'lee once that I had been being nice to her in our play that day, since she had mentioned that she was tired. She looked skeptical and said "Nice, eh?"

I think she was implying that I had been something less than kind to her that afternoon, but I can't imagine why she would think that. As I pointed out to her, "I haven't heard you beg me to stop even once today. That's me being nice."

So you see, nice, light, and all those words can be pretty fuzzy.

Redmage said:

Is there a category for "Whatever gets the best reaction from my 'lee?"

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I second that motion

I'm all of those so would that make like Master of all Tickle Styles.. Nahh I still have a lot to learn, but hey I don't mind practicing.. 😎

Redmage said:

I recall telling a certain quite feisty 'lee once that I had been being nice to her in our play that day, since she had mentioned that she was tired. She looked skeptical and said "Nice, eh?"

I think she was implying that I had been something less than kind to her that afternoon, but I can't imagine why she would think that. As I pointed out to her, "I haven't heard you beg me to stop even once today. That's me being nice."

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True indeed. 🙂 From one point of view, "nice" could mean going easy on your 'lee, so you don't wear her out. On the other hand, "nice" could also mean tickle torturing the bejeezus out of her, because you know she loves it.

Em Es said:

sweet sensual tickling (SST) ……OR…… sadistic tickle torture (STT)
Sadistic

light tickling ……………….....…OR…… extreme tickling
Extreme

tickle massage …………..………OR…… tickle torture
Torture

erotic tickling …………..…….…OR…… playful tickling
Both are good - with a platoniic friend, the latter; a lover, the former

sweet tickling …………..…….…OR…… evil tickling
Evil

smooth tickling ………..……...…OR…… rough tickling
It depends on what gets the better response

Click to expand...

that is basically what i would like also..

To Isabeau

It's a date.

LindyHopper said:

True indeed. 🙂 From one point of view, "nice" could mean going easy on your 'lee, so you don't wear her out. On the other hand, "nice" could also mean tickle torturing the bejeezus out of her, because you know she loves it.

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I've always been nice then, haven't I?

Been doing some online research....

I’ve been doing some searching and I found that there is some official terminology already in place to describe tickle styles: “Knismesis is the scientific term for the light, 'funny' kind of tickling. The term (along with gargalesis, the harder, less fun kind of tickling) was coined by psychologists Stanley Hall and Arthur Allin in 1897.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knismesis

Since gargalesis and knismesis are both quite a mouthful, I’d propose adapting and shortening them up to “garg/kniz/both” for common usage (like for TMF profiles or for personals or for communicating with a ler/lee what kind of tickle play you’d like to try).

In my search I found that gargalismos is not used in any English words but knismos is used medically as knismolagnia (knismos, tickle + lagnia, lust) to describe a tickle fetish. Some researchers think the two kinds of ticking involve different neural pathways, which would explain why they feel so different. The two types of tickling are rarely studied together, which would explain why some researchers find that most people like tickling and some researchers find that most people hate ticking. The two types of ticking may also explain why some people claim to be able to tickle themselves (knismesis) while some researchers claim that it’s not possible to tickle yourself (gargalesis). And finally there seems to be some disagreement among writers/researchers about which kind of tickling is the annoying kind and why.



Here are some links and highlights and links that I found while I was searching:

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:...may03.pdf+knismesis&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=11
Scientists describe knismesis as a light tickle that produces pleasure – as compared to gargalesis, which is like when someone
comes up behind you and gives you a sharp tickle on the side, which is a mix of pain and pleasure.


http://www.mmaonline.net/publications/MNMed2004/March/Pulse.html
The two types of tickle likely involve different pathways, with knismesis possibly traveling the same route as light touch and gargalesis moving along the routes of deep touch, pressure, and vibration.


http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf126/sf126p05.htm
Knismesis is very light stimulation of the skin, say by a feather. It rarely produces laughter and can be induced autonomously, by someone else, by a crawling insect, or even by mild electricity. Gargalesis cannot be self-induced. It consists of heavier pressures applied to specific parts of the body, especially the ribs and arm pits. But the finger probing usually has to be done by someone else. Gargalesis is often very unpleasant but is nevertheless likely to be accompanied by smiles and laughter. In fact, gargalesis can be so disturbing that medieval torturers supposedly tickled some of their victims to death!


http://members.aol.com/doder1/tickle1.htm
"Tickle" comes from Middle English tikelen, "to touch lightly."
The two tickle types are a. knismesis (a light tickle which may or may not produce laughter), and b. gargalesis (a heavy tickle which usually produces the laugh response).


http://foottalk.blogspot.com/2006/04/foot-tickling-pain-or-pleasure.html
Tickling theorists have established there are two types of tickle, and whether it makes you laugh or not depends on the type of tickle. Knismesis tickling is a light or feather touch, an annoying sensation or movement across the skin. Gargalesis is the heavy or laughter-associated tickling.


http://www.mmaonline.net/publications/MNMed2004/March/Pulse.html
Whether tickle makes you laugh or not depends on what type of tickle it is. Knismesis is a light-touch tickle, a “moving itch,” an annoying sensation of light movement across the skin. Gargalesis, on the other hand, can be as funny as its name sounds. It’s the tickle we feel when rougher and deeper pressure is applied across the skin in certain regions—the tickle of siblings’ battles, of a mother tickling her child.

TickleMePleeze said:

In a tickle session, would you rather spend MOST TIME doing:
sweet sensual tickling (SST) ……OR…… sadistic tickle torture (STT)

Click to expand...

I like doing the leftwing (hehe) stuff mostly with a little bit from the right side sprinkled in every now and then. I'd think too much from the right column spoils the fun very fast and would be exhausting the 'lee very quickly.