Things that are different in different parts of the UK

[isabellerossignol]

I thought it might be interesting, and informative, to have a thread about how things throughout the UK. Not customs or traditions, but actual practical things.

So, for me, as someone in N Ireland the first things that spring to mind is that the following things differ from England.

The compulsory school starting age
The cut off date for when you go into one school year or another
The names of the school years

And then I know that with education, Scotland is different again...

August Bank Hol.

August Bank Hol

Does Scotland have a different bank holiday, or just not have one in August at all?

That reminds me, at Easter most businesses here shut on Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday, not Good Friday and Easter Monday.

Shoes on/off in houses- generally on in scotland
Sunday trading- pretty normal shopping hours on sundays

I dont think we have an aug bank holiday in scotland- unless you work for an english company

scotland has the first monday in august as their bank holiday

No Scotland does not have an August bank holiday. We get the 2nd January which England do not get.

Scotish law can be different.

Scotland’s entire legal system is completely separate from and different to England’s. Their schools are also different, having Highers instead of A levels.

Scotland generally does not have bank holidays as such. Where I am they are referred to as public holidays and are not nationwide - different cities and towns on different days. In my town these are worked by more people than not - most people just add onto their annual leave.

Scotland has Not Proven verdict in court.

Funerals - in Scotland at least you would go to the funeral of a friend’s parent or a work colleague’s parent. Not so in England as far as I’ve experienced.

Halloween is continually - according to MN - slagged off as a brand new thing for people to spend money on and partake in. Not so in Scotland as I remember it being quite a big thing in my childhood at least three decades ago (same with proms a couple of decades ago).

Twat being a bad word - analogous to idiot in Scotland.

In Liverpool all of the chippies sell Chinese food and Sui Mai's.

Square Sausage 😆😆

Scottish legal and education systems are completely different to rest of UK, and many things are devolved to the Scottish Givernmemt/Parliament, so we are semi-autonomous in that respect.

Do English shops still have very limited Sunday opening hours?

Scottish Bank notes.

Free prescriptions and dental check ups.

2nd January public holiday!

"Halloween is continually - according to MN - slagged off as a brand new thing for people to spend money on and partake in. Not so in Scotland as I remember it being quite a big thing in my childhood at least three decades ago (same with proms a couple of decades ago)"

Also calling him "Santa" rather than "Father Christmas"... apparently Santa is a disgusting American import that people only started using because they watch to much TV.

When I worked in Yorkshire you would get Good Friday, Easter Monday and Tuesday off, down south only Good Friday and Easter Monday

Not important but a huge deal is what you call a ‘bread roll’
Working in a cafe a man asks for chips, tea and a tea cake.
I take him chips, tea and a tea cake.
Man yells at me, calls me thick, says I’ve ruined his day and lobs the teacake at me which bounces off my head. I sit on the floor and cry (over emotional, didn’t want to be there!) turns out he meant a bread roll/bap/cob

“Twat being a bad word - analogous to idiot in Scotland.”

No it’s not...well I mean it is, but then so is fanny...so...

When I worked in Yorkshire you would get Good Friday, Easter Monday and Tuesday off, down south only Good Friday and Easter Monday

Me too!

I went to my friends Dads, funeral a couple of years ago plunk ,I have known my friend for nearly 30 years though and has met her dad on many occasions when we were teenagers and twenties ,I probably wouldn't go to a casual friends parents funeral though , what people call meals ,here in the northwest of England most people I know have breakfast ,Dinner and Tea.

I believe from what I’ve seen on here that school uniforms differ between Scotland and England.

In Scotland we can go into Asda and buy any pack of polo shirts, skirts, trousers, bags etc but from things I’ve seen here it needs to be school branded in England?

Buying houses in Scotland, once you put in an offer the EA will put up a sign saying under offer, take it off the market and no one else can make an offer, none of the gazumping that I hear about in England. I think it can happen but its very rare.

At funerals in Scotland as PP said you’d go to the funeral of a friends nan, a work colleague, an ex colleague from many years ago who you haven’t seen in forever etc. Normally people go to the funeral but not afterwards, that tends to stay close family and friends.

For Scottish weddings you can marry anywhere and at anytime of the day or night as you like as long as it’s done by a registrar, humanist or minister/priest.

Regarding Twat being a bad word an ex manager of mine who was from Nottingham said she got into a lot of trouble calling people Twats when she first qualified as a nurse ,she said to her it was like calling someone a twit not really offensive but here in Greater Manchester very offensive!

Hogmanay/ New year's eve

Also in Scotland (at least round here) Easter is a bit of a non-event, whereas the English seem to LOVE Easter.

Depends on the school Definatley I bought all my kids uniform,s from Asda in primary ,Ds1 is going into yr 8 next week trousers and shirts are fine from Asda but he has to have branded blazer pe kit .