I had been under the impression that this barbaric practice was a Southern US specialty which the KKK inflicted on blacks, but just the other day I watched an Irish film called "The Run of the Country" (starring Albert Finney) wherein it was done to a young Irish lad in retribution for impregnating a girl from the other side of the border.

I'd be interested to know where this practice originated and what its meaning may have been.

Cheers,
Michael