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...

In Scotland, we would ask "where do you stay?". I didn't think this was unusual until working in England when people didn't realise I meant "where do you live?"

Schools can't legally force kids to wear school uniform in Scotland: it is an elaborate game of bluff by the school.

At ds' old school, many parents bought blazers in S1, but the kids (especially the boys ) would only wear it for the first few weeks days

Ds' blazer was passed on to our neighbour's son in almost mint condition and had now been passed on to his younger brother, still in almost mint condition

The only thing that the school was strict about was the tie - which cost a whole £3 Even the black shoes (and trainers/trainers style were OK) didn't need to be 100% black (as ds kept on telling me, as I always insisted on 100% black shoes I was paying, so I got my way )

No angst in Scotland about the GCSE equivalent results (Nat 5s) as almost all the schools go all the way through to S6. (Only exceptions I think are one or tow of the very rural ones).

Scottish primaries have 7 compulsory years and then 6 years at secondary . They go to secondary aged between 11.5 to 12 and 3/4.

@Venger Ham and pease pudding stottie = food of the gods

It was soooooo good! Ate it next to the lake in Leazes Park with all the geese staring at me

It's not really accurate to say that when an offer is accepted on a house in Scotland that it's pretty much a done deal. What you commonly see is 'sold subject to conclusion of missives' (the contract) and until they are concluded you can withdraw. Also yes, Scotland does have a separate legal system, but we do also share a lot of law (public general law) with the rest of the U.K.

"where do you stay" for "where do you live" I'd imagine comes from Scots Gaelic, as that's what you'd say in Irish. Not in Hibero English though.

Two terms that got confused me when I first came across them:
sharing a flat with an Irish girl (in England) - she kept going to “get” a shower? I thought we had a shower...

First job after uni was in Sheffield, where “while” means “until” eg: What time does the paper shop close ? It’s open while six o’clock.

Living the first 19 years in London then going away, I got the shock of my life when people would say 'Thank You' when they got off the bus!!!

It was partly because they got off at the front where the driver was, but even with single-door buses you'd never get that in the capital.

Also the speed of the buses when the roads allowed. All driven by frustrated F1 drivers.

sharing a flat with an Irish girl (in England) - she kept going to “get” a shower? I thought we had a shower...

I would say that. And until reading your comment it had never crossed my mind that it was an unusual turn of phrase

Some bits of Wales had no drinking in pubs on Sundays until relatively recently - mid 1990s? I remember that.

@Papergirl1968 no they don’t! All 2 tier schools in Worcs and Hereford now. They changed to 2 tier while my son was in year 2 so about 12 years ago.

They must still have three tiers in some areas of Worcestershire, Frith, as my friend’s son, who is 9, is just moving to middle school. Different name, different site, much bigger and it takes kids from several first schools. They’re in Bromsgrove.
I always used to find it odd that kids where I live go to secondary school at 11, coming 12, whereas just a few miles away they can be 13, turning 14.

I’m Scottish. I live in England now though.

Roast dinners, not a thing where I grew up and going to the pub as a family. Never.

No one gives a hoot when your birthday is and who is the eldest in the year. Intake times are different so we don’t have the whole summer born thing.

We live in Lancashire ohs children live in Edinburgh as used to finish school at lunch time every friday, when I met oh he'd only been in England about a year and there was loads of things he didnt understand. He says stay for live so his children stay in Edinburgh they dont live there. When our children started school he struggled to understand the system. We bought a house last year twice we had sold it and the buyers pulled out he couldn't understand why this was allowed to happen. It took him a while to get used to shops closing at 4 on sunday too.

@Papergirl1968 and @Frith2013 - my little corner of W Yorks has middle schools, which cover Y6-Y8. Only 3, on opposite sides of a hill, which feed the same high school, at the top of the school.

And as for drinking in Wales on a Sunday.
You couldn’t get a drink in Mid Glamorgan when i went to Uni there is 1989, but you could by the end of my first year.

Typo, should be “only 2” for middle schools.

@sashh Greggs originates from the north east, not Lancashire.

I stand corrected, I didn't mean to insult the NE.

Wolverhampton has battered chips too, and orange chips.

BikeRunSki

Kirkburton? Shelley?

@BikeRunSki has reminded me of my friend who went to uni in England. (We are from NI)

Friend would say I'm going to leave this back (what she meant was return an item she had bought) The girls she lived with just couldn't understand how leaving it back means getting a refund /exchange

Secondly when something is really disgusting we would say 'that turns me' again the English girls were so confused turns you in what way?!

It still makes me laugh all these years later!!

The sun is very, very different.

When I am walking on the East coast and look out to sea I only ever see it rising. However when I have walked the South West coastal path and looked out to sea I have only ever seen the sun setting, never rising. I am really tuned into this kind of stuff and notice little things like that.

@sashh, that pyramid, yes.

@Bike

I lived in Shelley for 3 years as a child, until recently I had relatives living in Highburton and then Kirkburton.

I have fond memories of Shelley.

@sashh, we accidentally moved here 18 years ago, when we weren’t even going to have children. We seem to have stayed! And DS started Middle school today.