People in UK saying "high school"

[Davros]

I've noticed this term being used more and more. To me it's "Senior" or "Secondary" school. Schools with the old fashioned divisions have "Lower, Middle and Upper". Even if you follow the American usage it isn't the same as our Senior, i believe it is years 10, 11, 12 and 13. Why are people calling Senior school High school? I know, each to their own blah blah

Stoorie I've never heard "how" used instead of "why"? I don't believe that the word why isn't used in Scotland! Do you mean people would say "how did you do that?"and mean "why did you do that?" Or just that it's idiomatic, as in "how's that then?" which means something slightly different to "why's that then?"?

I'm pedantic to some degree because I taught EFL for years and was asked endlessly about why the characters on Friends said X not y... Also because I'm bringing my children up to be bilingual in a non English speaking country, and now they're teens and pre teens they are picking up Americanisms from television and YouTube. It's painful to hear my own child say "on Christmas" instead of "at Christmas" ...

Can we move on to a discussion of that awful American tradition - Hallowe'en?

I had no idea that jotter wasn't a UK wide word.

My 7 year old's books are all neatly labelled, by the teacher, as 'maths jotter', English jotter' etc so it's not a slang word or anything.

I've learnt more about language on mumsnet than I have in a lifetime of listening to people talk

A Scottish friend of mine lost his job and told a group of us in the pub that he’d been “handed his jotters”. Some confusion ensued.......

I would understand jotter, but it’s not a word I’d use or hear used generally (Midlandsish). Ditto janitor.

I love finding out about language variations that you never knew existed

I'm waiting for someone to complain about people using mom instead of mum 

Auntie was from Yarm, Yorkshire, and she used “jotter”. Only place I’ve ever heard it.

Love this thread, keep it going. I went to a very stuck-up Convent School for Girls (where we had exercise books and rough books) and taught for many years at a Townname High School (mixed comprehensive). The High School was by far the better school.

North Nottinghamshire and we had "jotters"

They were rough copy exercise books- you wrote first in your jotter, then copied it into your "real" exercise book.

BitOutOfPractice T’is only a matter of time

Ah now math I used to enjoy teaching my EFL students that Halloween is an ancient Celtic tradition which emigrants took with them to America, repackaged, claimed as their own and exported back to Europe. That in isn't only Scottish though, it has roots in various Celtic pagan traditions.

Almost nothing is originally American, but many things have been adapted or continued in use in America having fallen out of fashion or evolved in their country if origin...

Bit nobody who's been on MN more than a couple of days would do that; the fact it's a Midlands regional form is pointed out pretty much every day...

The word Why is used in Scotland however yes I have used How did you do that instead of why did you do that and the Chewin the Fat sketch
Gonnae no dae that!
How?
Jist gonnae no!

Scotland & mines was “Towns name” High school

Haven't read the full thread BUT
Just to throw a spanner in the works to the whole "its high school in Scotland" theory- there are no "high schools" in Aberdeen City or Aberdeenshire. Funnily crossing the border into Moray and they're everywhere. Our schools are all XXX Academy and we would refer to them as secondary schools.

I don't believe that the word why isn't used in Scotland!

That’s not what Stoorie said Blue.

We use both, but it depends on where you live and how much Scots you use in your particular dialect.

“how no?” For example means “why not?”

It’s not idiom, it’s acceptable spoken language

“Aye Right” is idiom, because it means “no” and “aye” means yes on almost every other circumstance.

How/why is pretty common usage - although I don’t use it myself, I would understand it and probably not even notice the usage.

Scots English is pretty different to English English in a variety of respects - you must have noticed this if you are a language teacher and you’ve had any contact with Scots?

Worcestershire here. Most are known as '(name of town) High School'.

We have First Scool (YR-Y4) Middle School (YR5-YR7) then High School YR8 onwards.

Just while we’re on the subject “gotten” isn’t American either btw.

blueskiesandforests nope. Still see it regularly here. And I get it in RL too. "Why do you say mom? Are you American?" with a sneer thrown in for good measure. Gives me the rage it does! Aaaaaaaand breathe 

I was an EFL teacher in several countries outside the UK Pink. Nobody is intimately acquainted with every variant of the English language given that it's spoken worldwide, and an official language in over 70 countries!

I was asked endlessly about differences between British and American English, but rarely about any other form of English. I don't remember ever being asked about Scottish vocabulary, though people would ask whether they'd be able to understand the accent (to which id usually reply that it depended where in Scotland they were going, as in most countries) and whether they'd be understood.

Blueskies : a jotter is a soft backed exercise book, supplied by the school, which pupils use both to take notes and to do their homework. They might have two for a single subject: one for their notes and/or rough workings and the other to hand in with their homework. When it fills up, you get given a new one.

Ds has just thrown out a load of his jotters as he's left school and gone off to Uni, so doesn't need them anymore.

A school near me has been called X High School since at least the 1600s. Not sure how it can be an Americanism if it predates America.

My son’s school is called “xxx high school” and the school is 40 years old and always been called that as far as I know. My secondary school was/is “xxx Academy” although it’s just a normal comprehensive

Just while we’re on the subject “gotten” isn’t American either btw

Haha, Pink I've written long and tedious tracts about "gotten" on MN before.

I like 'gotten', it sounds much better than 'got' as a past participle, following the same convention as forgiven, driven, forgotten, eaten etc.

By that time I had got dressed
By that time I had gotten dressed

It is an old form that fell out of use here, but travelled to, and stayed unchanged in America. As did many old forms and spellings.

The worst thing is though the implication that there is something "wrong", corrupted or lazy about these forms.

prettybird thanks. Then it's another word for both exercise books and rough books.

Someone asked what people call them if they dont call them jotters. I guess thats the answer.

Just like plimsolls/ daps/ 101 regional variations on the word for those shoes primary/ infant and junior/ elementary school children wear for indoor sports lessons...