Ubereil - Sometimes when people say that a child "needs a good spanking", they just mean the child needs discipline. It's quite a common figure of speech in North America, and doesn't necessarily imply physical spanking...
well that's not only in North America...
i think this figure of speech exist in many european languages too... (and that's really not a proof of so called Americanisation)... I think that before denouncing this americanisation (especially on the internet) we should wonder why our societies are so permeable to this kind of influence but this is another problem. ok, strictly IMHO said...
