Well dictionary definitions aside, in the context of parent and child the word 'hit' is generally associated with a deliberate act of violence, spanking is the use of an open hand, so the force of a punch or hand slap is a
lot harder than a spank to the backside (a soft area).
To use the word 'hit' when talking about spanking to me implies there is force and a violent intent involved and that is obviously incorrect and makes spanking sound like physical abuse.
As someone who was spanked when young I don't really like an ambiguous term being used that others would take to mean my parents beat me, which they certainly did not.
That aside clearly we disagree and that's fine with me

, I don't advocate spanking, I advocate whatever actions are necessary to discipline a child and raise them right, that is down to the parents to decide.
What bothers me about this is people entering parenthood with the belief that spanking is bad and wrong simply because it is something that causes physical pain, pain itself is not an evil thing and applied by a loving and tempered parent can be used to the benefit of the child, the bible itself states this so to disagree as a chirstian is quite ridiculous.
I just wish more parents to be had an open mind and didn't buy into the insane idea that spanking is child abuse, if that were true the law would have to imprison every surviving parent from the 60s through to the 80s and probably more beyond that.