The key attitudes that will keep you and those around you safe while exploring unfamiliar whip techniques. The four maxims are:

1: the whip is dangerous, so I will take measures to protect myself and others

2: the whip is long, so I will be constantly aware of my surroundings

3: the whip is disruptive and intimidating, so I will be courteous and nonthreatening

4: the less space I have, the stricter I will be

Parts of a whip:

Bowl - the forwardmost bend in the thong formed by a cast into a crack, which travels the full length of the whip; also referred to as the loop in reversals or the hairpin in continuals

Fall - the replaceable length that extends past the thin end of the thong and continues the taper down to the popper; serves to bear the majority of wear in the tail end of the whip; not all whips have a fall

Fall hitch - the rearrangement of the terminating overlay strands, which serves to fasten the replaceable fall to the thong; there are many types of fall hitches, but not all whips have a fall hitch

Handle - the rigid portion at the thickest end of the whip, which is the primary source of leverage; the handle is not necessarily included in the declared length on all whips

Heel - the knob at the base of the handle of the whip, which serves as a mechanical anchor point for the hand

Keeper - on stock whips, the system of loops that join the handle and thong; the loops can individually be called the handle keeper and thong keeper, and the mated pair of loops is collectively called the keeper

Knot, accent - any woven knot on a whip that is not the heel knot; can be used as cover-ups for raw or otherwise unsightly spots, or strictly for decoration

Knot, transition - the accent knot on a bull whip at the end of the handle opposite the heel, generally used to cover a change in braided patterns from handle to thong; not structurally or functionally necessary

Lashing, hitching, grapevine - on cow whips or hybrid whips, the system of ties that join the handle to the thong; this can be done in a variety of decorative or strictly utilitarian ways

Overlay - the final layer of braiding, typically the only braided layer that's visible in the finished whip

Popper/cracker - the short, tufted, replaceable attachment at the thinnest end of the whip; the popper is the part that creates the shockwave we hear as a bang or crack, and it does this by generating drag and moving air

Thong - the flexible, tapered, major length of the whip; this can be a separate part as in a cow whip, stock whip, or hybrid whip, or it can be structurally integral with the handle as in a bull whip; the thong terminates where the braiding stops

Transition (noun) - the base of the thong, wherein the rigidity of the handle disappears, becoming extra-stiff braiding and eventually fully flexible thong; whips with stronger transitional tension will stand up better to hard use, and whips with weaker transitional tension may lose structure quickly, wear out, and become harder to handle; important for all whips, but generally only a major focus in sport bull whips

Wrist loop - a utility loop extending from the heel of the whip, usually braided, which can be used to hang the whip for storage or display, or to secure the whip to the user's hand in certain controlled scenarios; not all whips have wrist loops

Rhythmic Notation terms:

Area of execution - the plane on which a technique is being performed, and one of the key components to all whip cracking; in Rhythmic Notation, every beat contains a symbol to represent the area of execution, which may be written or left implicit where convenient

Articulation of the crack - the manner of directional manipulation used to achieve a crack, and one of the key components to all whip cracking; reversals (x) form a loop, and continuals (n) form a partial loop sometimes called a hairpin

Beat - the minimum expressible movement of the whip, by which the popper travels to the opposite side of the circle, either by cracking or by swinging; in Rhythmic Notation, a written beat must contain no more than one action symbol, and may contain multiple adjustment symbols depending on the complexity of the motion and any omissions made for convenience; the most common structure of a written beat is 1) action 2) plane 3) direction of spin; for example, half spin reversals on the home plane could be written as [ -lb xlp -lp xlb ] but can be simplified to [ - x ] where the direction of spin and lack of plane changes are implied by the omission of adjustment symbols

Continual - an articulation of crack that results from establishing a clear direction of spin on a given plane, stalling the whip slightly to align it in the desired trajectory, and then dragging and throwing it along that trajectory without changing the direction of spin; in Rhythmic Notation, the continual is represented by the symbol n

Circle - the imaginary circle traced in the air by the popper, at the center of which is the user's hand, or arm. The circle can be defined as long as the whip is in motion, and can be shifted from plane to plane

Continual - one of two ways of articulating a crack, by which, all things held equal, the direction of spin does not change. In RN, the action symbol for a continual is n

Direction of spin - on every plane, the whip can spin in two directions, one of the key components to all whip cracking; in Rhythmic Notation, every beat contains a symbol to represent the direction of spin, which may be written or left implicit where convenient

B spin - rises in front and falls behind when working on the home (l) or cross (/) planes, from home side to cross side in front when working on the upper (^) or lower (v) planes, and rises on the cross side and falls on the home side when working on the front (+) or back (#) planes

P spin - falls in front and rises behind when working on the home (l) or cross (/) planes, from cross side to home side in front when working on the upper (^) or lower (v) planes, and falls on the cross side and rises on the home side when working on the front (+) or back (#) planes

Drill - a minimized system of movements that can be repeated indefinitely to build a particular skill

Flutter - discontinuity in the motion of the tail end of the whip, caused by unrefined body movements or environmental factors like wind; a fluttering whip may not crack, and will be more likely to unintentionally hit the handler or other objects

‍Plane - the imaginary flat surface defined by the spin of the whip on a stable axis, also called the area of execution; plane control is a major factor in achieving a crack

Plane, back - the vertical plane behind the handler's body, perpendicular to the handler's line of sight; on the back plane, the bowl is almost always cast to the left or right; in Rhythmic Notation, the back plane is represented by the symbol #

Plane, cross - the vertical plane roughly parallel with the handler's line of sight, on the side of the body opposite from the hand that holds the whip; on the cross plane, the bowl is almost always cast forward or backward; in Rhythmic Notation, the cross plane is represented by the symbol /

Plane, front - the vertical plane in front of the handler's body, perpendicular to the handler's line of sight; on the front plane, the bowl is almost always cast to the left or right; in Rhythmic Notation, the front plane is represented by the symbol +

Plane, home - the vertical plane roughly parallel with the handler's line of sight, on the side of the hand that holds the whip; one of the natural planes; on the home plane, the bowl is almost always cast forward or backward; in Rhythmic Notation, the home plane is represented by the symbol l or |

Plane, lower - the horizontal plane below the handler's feet; this plane is used only rarely for single cracks; in Rhythmic Notation, the lower plane is represented by the symbol v

Plane, upper - the horizontal plane above the handler's head; one of the natural planes; on the upper plane, the bowl is most often cast forward or backward, but can also be cast left or right; in Rhythmic Notation, the upper plane is represented by the symbol ^

Planes, central - the three theoretical planes that cross the body line in three dimensions; these are rarely accessed if ever, for example, it can be said that horizontal body wraps are executed on the x-z central plane

Planes, cubic - the imaginary system of planes surrounding the body of the handler; these include the home (l), cross (/), upper (^), lower (v), front (+), and back (#) planes, as well as the three central planes that cross the body line in the three dimensions

Planes, natural - the three planes that are kinesiologically easiest to access, including the home (l), front (+), and upper (^) planes; these three planes are used to define b and p spin on all planes, via reflections across the body line

Planes, pure - the six planes that do not intersect the body line, including the home (l), cross (/), upper (^), lower (v), front (+), and back (#) planes

Reversal - an articulation of crack that results from establishing a clear direction of spin on a given plane, and reversing the direction of spin; in Rhythmic Notation, the reversal is represented by the symbol x

Reversals, full spin (slow figure 8) - a repeating pattern of reversals separated by a full rotation around the circle; fully simplified full spin reversals can be expressed in Rhythmic Notation by the three beat phrase - - x

Rhythmic Notation - a system of expressing whip cracking sequences in text, generally operating on a basis of semicircular movement; a written beat in Rhythmic Notation contains one action symbol representing the manner of movement, and may contain one or more adjustment symbols to reflect plane changes or nuances in follow-through or inflection; in a written beat, the action symbol comes first, followed by the adjustment symbol for plane, and then the adjustment symbol for direction of spin

Semicircle rule - the two-fold assertion that the motion of a whip travelling into a crack will take it from one pole of the circle to the opposite pole, AND that a swing around half the circle must then take the same amount of time as if it were travelling to crack; this rule gives us stable reference points, which allow us to register the whip's motion against an external rhythm, and plan out long sequences

Spin, full - uncracking movement from one pole of the circle all the way around and back to the same pole; in Rhythmic Notation, a full spin is represented by the phrase - -, where each - accounts for half the circle

Spin, half - uncracking movement from one pole of the circle to the opposite pole; in Rhythmic Notation, a half spin is represented by the action symbol -

Spin (swing) - terms used to describe a whip in continuous motion on a given plane; in Rhythmic Notation, continued swing is represented by the action symbol -, which generally accounts for travel around half the circle per the semicircle rule

Symbols, action - in Rhythmic Notation, a symbol that represents movement across half the circle, either by swinging or cracking; x represents a reversal, n represents a continual, - represents a half spin, and ~ represents a stalled or rushed half spin; the action symbol is the minimum information necessary to fill a written beat, and is always the leading symbol when accompanied by adjustment symbols

Symbols, adjustment - in Rhythmic Notation, a symbol that represents the characteristics of the action in the same beat; planes and directions of spin are the most common adjustment symbols, but more can be used depending on the technique; adjustment symbols always follow the action symbol, with plane coming before direction of spin, for example the breakaway can be written as [ -^b xlp xlb x^b ]

Trajectory of the bowl - within the circle drawn by the swinging whip, the directionality of the bowl following a cast into a crack; this is one of the key components to all whip cracking; on most planes, there are two trajectories that are most rhythmically accessible; trajectory does not have a symbol in Rhythmic Notation, but can be conveyed with parentheses or highlights to denote when the whip is pointed toward a particular pole for disambiguity or convenience, for example the Sydney flash could be written as [ (-lp) nlp (xlb) -lb (-lb) xlp ] where the parentheses mark when the whip is pointing backward