Lap Explained

A lap is a surface (usually horizontal) created between the knee and hips of a biped when it is in a seated or lying down position. The lap of a parent or loved one is seen as a physically and psychologically comfortable place for a child to sit.^{[1] [2]}

In some countries where Christmas is celebrated, it has been a tradition for children to sit on the lap of a person dressed as Santa Claus to tell Santa what they want for Christmas, and have their picture taken.^[3]

Among adults, a person sitting on the lap of another usually indicates an intimate or romantic relationship between the two; this is a factor in the erotic activity in strip clubs known as a lap dance, where one person straddles the lap of the other and gyrates their lower extremities in a provocative manner.^[4]

A lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar played in a sitting position with the instrument placed horizontally across the player's knees.^[5] The lap can be a useful surface for carrying out tasks when a table is not available.^[6] The laptop was so named because it was seen as being able to be used on the user's lap.^[7]

See also

• Lap dog

Notes and References

1. Sent Before My Time: A Child Psychotherapist's View of Life on a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, by Margaret Cohen, 2003, page 108.
2. Parenting Other People's Children: Understanding and Repairing Reactive Attachment Disorder, by John L. Stoller, 2006, page 214.
3. Web site: A Visit from St. Nick . Squareamerica.com . 21 December 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20101224044032/http://squareamerica.com/sa1.htm . 24 December 2010.
4. Book: Colosi, Rebecca. Dirty Dancing: An Ethnography of Lap Dancing. Taylor & Francis. 978-1351569408. 2017. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20171113223146/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1h03DwAAQBAJ. 2017-11-13.
5. Book: Volk . Andy . Lap Steel Guitar . 2003 . Centerstream . Anaheim, California . 978-1-57424-134-1.
6. The American Missionary - Volumes 22-24, 1868, page 57: "In the absence of chairs, the floor, (my present location) is not a very bad seat, and one can use their lap for a table if necessary."
7. The Electrified Mind: Development, Psychopathology, and Treatment in the Era of Cell Phones and the Internet, by Salman Akhtar, 2012, page 9.