Differentiation of lamâsch and sarp

While lamâsching takes place when a group of people enjoys unconditionally shared body contact in an explicitly innocent way, sarping takes it a step further. Still far away from sex, a sarp can - in contrast to a lamasching situation - contain mouth-to-mouth contact and nudity.
This differentiation is, however, not binary. While full-body clothing and the occasional humorous break may be important for newcomer lamaschers, people who are more used to lamasching culture and feel that the type of relationship to the other members of their lamâsching circle is clearly defined may want to move up the scale in a more sarpy direction. That can mean that more direct skin contact is applied, less joking and laughing takes place and/or kisses on regular body parts.

Since the difference between the nature of lamâsch and sarp is so vague, the extreme ends of the scale should be defined:

To find on the low end (least intense lamasching):

• extended hugs
• casual slight caressing
• frequent warm smiles

To find on the high end (most intense sarping):

• full-body skin contact
• continuous kisses on the neck and the face
• face-on-face caressing
  
  

These are, of course, only examples that try to give an impression of what kind of action and attitude could be expected to happen on each side of the scale. To clarify further, the situations that brought both of the terms into being are going to be explained below.

Origin of the terms

The concept of lamâsching was defined in a group situation filled with laughter and appreciation, while the concept of sarping was defined by a traditional monogamous couple to have a nicer word for what is basically cuddling. Since the couple thought about the differentiation of intimate but non-erotic caressing from 2-person sexual interaction, whereas the group thought about a newly found group action, the two concepts naturally overlap in the middle of the skinship-intensity scale. They simply move inward from two different directions:

Overlapping and change in situation

Sometimes a situation can start as lamâsching and end up being a sarp. It can happen, that a lamâsching session starts off with eight people and in the end there are only two left. Does this situation turn into a sarp automatically? No! It all depends on the attitude of the participants! It is also possible to happen the other way around: Two people start something clearly lamâschy and other people then join in.
Sarping and lamâsching share the dimension of appreciation and since lamâsching happens totally unconditionally, this might be the difference: A sarpy caress says 'I value touching you above all others' while a lamâschy one only says 'I truly enjoy the warmth of your presence'. The action performed can be exactly the same and the difference only lays in the subtle feeling (and is probably hard to tell sometimes).

The try to differentiate these two terms arises from wanting to get closer to the limits of conditional relationships of any kind and to explore the grey areas. Giving names to different areas of a scale allows to talk about them and to fight the inherent awkwardness modern society taught us to feel in regards of subjects like these.