Talk:Dennis the Menace

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The useful content of the /whacking page (as opposed to the tongue-in-cheek content) has been removed to the main page.

Please, we musn't let Wikipedia slide into an Everything2-style humor project. It isn't one. It's an encyclopedia project. --LMS

I put the whacking page in there as an explanatory note. From my reading of US literature it is my understanding that "whacking" means something entirely different in the US than it does in the UK. For UK readers of course it just clutters the text who already know what it means. Phil Lord

That makes sense to me. --LMS

The fact that this is a "Britishism" just turned on a light for me. In The Beatles song, "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," there is a background commentary vocal line that goes, "in his life there's something lacking. What he needs is a damn good whacking." This, in American English would simply refer to a good old-fashioned spanking. Though the implication of the line is not really changed by that understanding, it is interesting to note that a common and specific term is being used, not just something colorful to rhyme with "lacking." I am, no doubt, the only person on the planet who cares about this... -- Isn't the line from "Piggies" instead?

It is from "Piggies," courtesy George Harrison, inspiration to colorful figures like Charles Manson.  :-) --KQ

[edit] Dennis the Manace vs Dennis and Gnasher

Realistically, the UK version was called Dennis the Manace (UK), not Dennis and Gnasher (although it may have been later renamed) and debued in 1951 a few days after Ketchum's strip. There really is no connection between the two and the UK version should probably be on it's own page.

In the 1990's, it was also sometimes called Dennis the Menace and Gnasher boffy_b 20:40, 9 January 2007 (UTC)