Hitting spanking slapping popping

If Elsie's totally over-stimulated, saying, "Elsie, SIT," a a loudish clear voice and touching the tip of one finger very gently to the base of her tail is the thing that will get her to come back to earth and sit down (even if she's barking). That's not punishment, I don't think; she doesn't act like it bothers her, and there's really no way touching her gently there hurts her. But, I could see how you could do basically the same action and call it the same thing but do it in a painful way.

If Bandit is really distracted I do that too. Not stern or loud, just a firm "sit" and if he ignores the command, I will gently place my hand above his tail and he instantly sits. Sometimes he does respond better to a physical cue versus a verbal one. Doesn't mean it has to be harsh though.

That is just a whole bunch of molding/prompting, which is what a lot of ppl do when the dog doesn't response because the dog dosn't fully understand what is being asked of them. Person then 'helps' the dog. Then it turns into the cue. Can work, but it is a problem when off leash and the dog is at a distance from you. Same as a verbal, most dogs don't respond well to a verbal that hasn't been taught correctly. See it all the time (as I am sure other trainers here have as well). Owner says sit, no response, Sit, no response, SIT!, no response, SIT!!!!! (then the molding often happens), dog finally sits. What the person doesn't understand is that the dog is waiting for all those repeats and/or the molding because that is how it was taught. Which is the fundimental flaw of using a verbal to get an action when training a new behaviour. Instead of adding the verbal to the behaviour when the animal does it, also the best way to get an immediate response to 1 verbal cue with no repeats. And unless they retrain it, they will never get a dog to sit (or whatever they taught) immediately and quickly on 1 cue. Not the dogs fault.

Yep

"Don't name it 'till you love it." Who says that? Is that a Garrett-ism?

Pretty much all dogs tune in to body language before they tune in to verbal cues. And no, not the dog's fault at all. Our verbal language is totally meaningless to them, but they watch us like hawks. That's why when training a new behavior, you don't put a name to it until you know for sure that the dog is going to reliably offer that behavior.
Next dog I train to trial I'm going to amuse myself by coming up with oddball verbal cues for the obedience commands. I think sit should be something like park it, that sort of thing.

"Don't name it 'till you love it."

Yes sometimes when Squash's mind is lost in space I will step in front of him and gently just take hold of his collar on either side of his head with my hands and drop my voice to a low, quiet "SIR, sit" and it seems to snap him out of it. But it's not a harsh grabby hands or popping/jerking kind of thing, more like if you cupped your hands on someone's cheeks if that makes sense. Not harsh, but works for him.