Spanish word for flipflop/sandal/slipper. It's what Hispanic/Latino parents (usually mothers) use to beat their child's ass when they've had it with their misbehaviour.
And don't even try to run, they can throw that thing round a corner like boomerang and if you manage to run out the house then don't expect to be allowed back inside without getting twice the original punishment.
When Dionne Warwick was messed up on heroin in the early 1970s and a critic blasted her bizarre concert performance, she phoned the guy and screamed at him: "Yo mama suck canal water!"