Cultural differences Scotland and England

[CauleyMacGlochlin]

So surprised to see on a recent thread that in England secondary school pupils are often not allowed out of school for lunch until 6th form, which Google tells me means 16-18. I'm gobsmacked. I've never heard of anything like this in Scotland and I've lived all over the country (grew up in Glasgow and moved around in adulthood)

I also recently discovered that English school pupils can't leave education at 16. They have to stay in education til 18 unless they have an apprenticeship.

Got me thinking about cultural differences between the countries that I've maybe been oblivious all this time. Any others?

@Fr7fr6

My dad would say gutties, I would say sannies or sand shoes.

Both born and bred Glaswegian, but obviously different generations.

Far does he bide eh? Husband from Angus.

Where I grew up, old people called the Co-op “the Co-operative”, none of the young’uns would.

Where I am the Co-op used to be called the "Co-opy" but pronounced like cope-y rather than co-op-y. When I was 11 my friend's mum asked if I wanted to go to the disco with them and I was SO confused when we just went to the Co-op. 😁

Adding a Y/IE to the end of words seems to be really common here. The pond is the pondie, a grassy area near where my parents live is the "farmy" (I assume it was farmland at one time), there's a nature walk through a valley that's called the "dammy" because there was a stone dam type thing there and so on. Men and women being mannies and wifies but I know that one isn't just a local thing.

In the NE of Scotland we have blackenings before a wedding where the Bride and Groom get kidnapped the weekend before the wedding and taken to a prominent place in their local town and get all manner of disgusting food thrown all over them!!!! If any of their friends have a trailer they'll then get paraded through the town. It's wild!

Is she not in 6th form (16+) to be driving?

I shared a flat in English woman in Aberdeen. She was very taken aback when a random
bloke casually referred to her as “fit”. She came back and told us all about it. Awkward.

I'm in Yorkshire and have always referred to the main ceiling light in a room as the 'big light'.

My rather posh ex DH from Lenzie says gutties, as does DP from Lanarkshire. I have always said trainers.

Yes, she’s in S6. She’s 17.

Me too. My English friend at primary school used to call them “pumps” and I would cringe myself inside out.

😂 my friend when I said about getting married said yes will sort your blackening out! I don't think I told her my plans for a good 3 months in fear of being "kidnapped" and it happening and we had a lot of weekends away!

Yes, because pumps are farts where I come from (fart was a rude/ common word 🤣).

My DD goes to a RC school here in SE England. They get extra funding and have better facilities and also better support for SEN, which was why I chose it. I don't actually agree with Church schools and Grammar schools it just means the Comprehensives are rubbish.

If you live with someone but aren't married, they are called your 'bidey-in' in Lanarkshire. My colleague referred to my DP as my 'bidey-in' when we first moved in together.

Yes we always say cope-y in NE Scotland but my DH from central belt didn't. I also call kids bairns and say auld mannies and wifies too.

We make a lot of soup, we currently live in the midlands. Always had a soft spot for Scotland though

I know what you mean, but as another child of Newcastle I’d say that we are England and what we do here is every bit as English as the South. A few things mentioned on this thread are more class differences than Scottish/English differences.

We do say big light

My autistic DD is not able yet at 11 to travel to school alone and she doesn't yet have an EHCP. She'd be gutted if all her friends were allowed to leave school at lunch and she had to stay back on her own. So I'm glad ours stay at school. Do they not have clubs at lunchtime in Scottish schools?

I've lived in Scotland and now live in England (I'm not from the UK). I love both. In Scotland they seem to have much stronger traditions (ceilidh's at weddings, burns night, bagpipes etc etc). We do have traditions in England of course but they don't seem to run as deep. I did experience a huge amount of racism (or ignorance I suppose) in Scotland as a black woman. A huge amount actually. It is more subtle in England and I experience it far less.

So a cross between afternoon tea and Sunday lunch. Not sure how you are meant to eat all that?! Most people struggle with one or the other! 😂

We do that in England too! In fact anytime you decide to get on with something! 😂

@Ringpeace it's not a skirt. Good try though 👏

We'd have dinner 7.30-8 when going out but 6-7 at home. A summer coat?! 🤯