Snapedom

The most physical I can recall him getting is during the Pensieve scene where, as you and Torino say, he grabs Harry by the arm, and a little later he hurls the jar of cockroaches at him (athough it doesn't hit him). So I'd say it's out of character for him to get physical with the students in the books.

I recall getting into a discussion about this on the snape_n_lupin Yahoo Group after the fourth movie came out and they had the scene where Snape whacks Harry and Ron on the head with a book, although they seemed to be playing that scene for laughs rather than as "Snape, the scary abusive teacher". I do remember that the director of GoF was drawing on experiences from real-life British boarding schools, which do have corporal punishment--which there really doesn't seem to be in the books. The students may get sentenced to detention in the Forbidden Forest where they can be eaten by god knows what, but they're never spanked or beaten. ;) In fact, doesn't Filch mourn the fact that Dumbledore doesn't allow him to whip the students? Anyhow, I think the violent!Snape thing started with the GoF movie--in the movie-verse that is. I haven't really noticed any fanfic stories with him being violent towards the kids, although I read mainly Snupin, so the focus is more on him and Lupin than the students.