What is "whipping boy"

n. Someone punished for the errors of others, historically a boy that was whipped in the stead of a misbehaving prince.

n. someone punished for the errors of others [syn: scapegoat]

Whipping boys were established in the English court during the monarchies of the Early Modern Period. The purpose of a whipping boy was to receive the punishment that was assigned to the young prince for general misbehavior. Whipping boys were created to satisfy the idea of the Divine Right of Kings, which states that God appoints the monarchy and that the prince would be an extension upon that lineage, thus no one but the king would be worthy of punishing the prince. The idea that no one is worthy of punishing this future king would create considerable problems for the hired tutors and court servants that might find the need to punish the young prince while the king is away.

The whipping boy can be from virtually any background. Occasionally the whipping boy was from high born, but could have been an orphan or foundling. In order to have the whipping boy be an effective tool for disciplining the prince, the prince must feel empathy for the whipping boy so they must form an emotional bond. This connection between the two boys rests in the idea that a prince seeing a friend being whipped or beaten for something that he had done wrong would increase the likelihood that the prince would not make the same mistake again.

The job of being a whipping boy was not necessarily as bad as it may seem. The whipping boys were often educated with and given similar privileges to the prince. Whipping boy was an established title at court during the Tudor reign. Often times, the whipping boys were rewarded later in life by the princes they served. King Charles I of England appointed his whipping boy, William Murray, as the first Earl of Dysart in 1643 after he had been living in the palatial Ham House since 1626 under the request of King Charles I.

The children's book The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman, which is about a prince and his whipping boy, was the winner of the Newbery Medal in 1987. The Mark Twain novel, The Prince and the Pauper had a whipping boy character, Humphrey Marlow, who, unaware that the prince was an impostor, helped him "relearn" the intricacies of court etiquette. In George R. R. Martin's fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire the characters Tommen Baratheon and Joffrey Baratheon have a whipping boy named Pate. In the 2014 film Sleeping Beauty, one central character is a whipping boy seen fulfilling his appointed function.

Whipping Boy was an American hardcore punk, psychedelic, and experimental-metal band from Palo Alto, California.

The band was created in 1982, made up of four students from Stanford University: Eugene Robinson, Steve Ballinger, Sam Smoot, and David Owens. Their sound featured lightning-fast melodies, tight, chunky rhythms, and violently incoherent vocals. They espoused a radically anti-government view that caught the attention of the Dead Kennedys' Jello Biafra and led to his support. They were featured on a punk compilation Not So Quiet on the Western Front. Their first LP, The Sound of No Hands Clapping was produced by DK's Bassist, Klaus Flouride. The band enjoyed moderate success, and a national tour in 1983 was capped by the release of the psychedelic MuruMuru in 1983. This abrupt change in style was not welcomed by Whipping Boy's fanbase. After another national tour, several personnel changes followed. In 1984 Ron Isa on bass, Steve Shaughnessy on drums, and Niko Wenner on guitar and backing vocals joined original members Robinson and Ballinger. Not long after, Ballinger left and Bart Thurber joined on guitar, though Ballinger appeared on the next LP The Third Secret of Fatima. This third record was another relative stylistic change, and also involved Fluoride. After several further lineup changes and a 7" record of a live-in-the-studio recording at radio station KFJC entitled "Crow," the band broke up in 1989. Incendiary front man Eugene Robinson and multi-instrumentalist and composer Niko Wenner are now in the avant-garde noise-rock band Oxbow.

Category:Hardcore punk groups from California Category:Musical groups from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Musical groups established in 1982 Category:1982 establishments in California

Whipping Boy are an Irish alternative rock band who were mainly active in the 1980s and 1990s. The band reformed briefly in 2005 for a series of shows. 2011 saw Whipping Boy emerge again, this time without Paul Page and Myles McDonnell. The Whipping Boy Periscopes Up tour summer 2011 saw Joey (bass) and Finn (guitar) replace them with longtime live guitarist Killian McGowan completing the line up.

Whipping Boy is the third (and to date, last) studio album from the Irish band Whipping Boy. It was released on April 28, 2000 on Low Rent Records.

A whipping boy was a young boy who was assigned to a prince and was punished in his place.

Whipping boy may also refer to:

• Scapegoat, a person or group who is blamed for the sins, crimes, or sufferings of others
• The Whipping Boy, a Newbery Medal winning book
• Whipping Boy (album), the third studio album from the Irish band Whipping Boy
• Whipping Boy (American band), a hardcore punk band
• Whipping Boy (Irish band), an influential Irish rock music band