Parental scolding

[noctuabunda.livejournal.com]

I've heard that US and English parents sometimes use their children's full names while scolding them. It's not at all common in Germany; so I'm wondering how parents from other countries handle that, especially European countries like France and Italy.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Comments

[seleneheart]

That's true. I can't vouch for the rest of the US, but in the South, if they include your middle name when they're yelling at you, then you are in deep doo-doo indeed!!

[erinptah]

East Coast United States - we do that here too. Not sure about the rest of the world, unfortunately.

[eleanorb.livejournal.com]

It's true for England.
e.g. "John Smith, if I see you doing that again you'll feel the back of my hand!"

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

My sister (we're Canadian) has made up a full name for each of her kids, both to get their attention and to make sure random strangers don't actually know her kids' real names when she bellows, say, 'James Barnaby Malkovitch!' across a playground.

In other words, it's also a practice in Canada.

If you're interested, where I live in Texas, the way to emphasize that you mean 'no', is to say, 'no, sir!' or 'no, mam!' depending on the sex of the child.

I was an Aupair in France back in the early 90s, and I don't remember hearing the children's full names when their parents were angry at them, just their first names.

[noctuabunda.livejournal.com]

thank you!

[ffrengig-moron.livejournal.com]

It can be used in France, but I think it has been imported from the UK. I know I use it, but generally, we add young lady/miss or young man/mister to emphasize our point. Something to do with the formality, I guess.

[noctuabunda.livejournal.com]

thank you very much for that info!