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?

Yes they do, there’s a whole Peter Kay routine about it.

From what DS says, there was equal time & credence given to both sides - including economic, social & political theory. There was study of the social effects of the referendum on different people too.

Talking of morning rolls - a well fired roll. To the uninitiated they are burnt, being absolutely black on top, to the rest of us... manna from heaven.

And clootie dumpling! Kind of like a less rich Christmas pudding, boiled in a floured cloth (the cloot). Lovely when still warm from the pan with custard as a pudding, amazing when sliced and fried in butter or bacon fat the next morning as part of a big Scottish breakfast....

On the east coast we pronounce it shade, as in shade from the sun, as opposed to a shed which is a wooden garden building!

No, it’s nothing like that. It is a combination of Politics, 20th century history, sociology and economics. It’s a serious social sciences Higher.

But is is pronounced PA-pa (like in the police alphabet or Papa don’t Preach) rather than posh English - pa-PA (Downton Abbey style)

To go in the other direction I discovered on another thread that some English people don't actually wash pots when they're washing the pots.

I come from a town less than an hour from Glasgow and I think that to say “pee” is rude I’m afraid!

We always say “a wee wee”.

NB never just “a wee” like English people do.

I live in England now. DS is 7 and hasn’t realised yet that his friends don’t say “wee wee” because my English husband also says “wee wee”, at my behest.

In Scotland we often use possessives when and English person would not.

For example

“I’m going to my bed”
”Your Dad’s still not home from his work”
”We’re going to Spain on our holidays”
“What do you want for your Christmas?”

“Away” means “off to” eg
”I’m away to the shops”

And one of my favourites is simply “That’s me” or “That’s you”. It means “You're all done” or “I’m finished”.
“That’s me away” is a combination of the above.

I’m half an hour from Glasgow and “wee wee” is total cringe. No one ever says that. I need to pee is totally fine!

My Mum was HORRIFIED by skin on a battered fish in England.

I can vouch for soup being more culturally and emotionally significant in Scotland than in England. My English husband can take or leave it but it wasn’t a feature in his childhood other than the odd tin of Heinz tomato.
My Mum, OTOH, made a huge pot of soup two or 3 times a week, and she and her own mother could talk about the relative merits of their soup for hours. Scotch broth, lentil, pea and ham and chicken noodle mostly. I had soup at the start of every meal, sometimes twice a day.
My other Granny was a crap cook but even she could manage a cock a leekie.

Please don’t be rude on what is a nice chatty thread.
And I don’t mean by saying “pee”, I mean being rude about how others talk.

You called someone else rude for how they talk. I pointed out that elsewhere in Glasgow, we would cringe at what you say. Wouldn’t call you rude but would find it very twee. You did call someone else rude.

Don’t be so sensitive 🤷‍♀️

No, I said that I agreed with your Liverpudlian relatives that saying “pee” was rude.

I did not call you rude, until you actually were rude to me by describing my language as “cringe”. and you have done it again with “twee”.

We can describe linguistic differences without judging them.

I massively went off fish'n' chips when I lived in England I couldn't eat it with the horrible skin on . There was only a few (lived in different regions) places where I could get good fish'n'chips .The batter was often soggy . And I managed to find a chip shop that served fritters ! I didn't want to move again but had too .

"Ahm gone fur a pish" is regularly said in my house. However if children are about its I'm going to the toilet.

This comes across as really silly .

There are 163 grammar schools in England. It depends where in England you are as to proximity and number of grammar schools are near you. There are only 30 or so local authorities which retained them, in Kent they are very common, in the North East there are zero. Lots in London still too, and Bucks.

You go to your local school. If you want to go somewhere else, you put a placement request in. You don't have to apply for numerous schools and hope one will give your kid a place.

I was thinking this - surely this is the fundamental basis of other practices relating to school, particularly being allowed to leave the site at lunchtime and children having more independence to walk from a younger age.

Can I ask the Scottish teachers on the thread if there is ever any trouble off-site at lunchtime? Fights between neighbouring schools, for example? When I worked in London secondary schools the timings of the end of the day were carefully staggered as we had a real problem with kids from other schools coming down at home-time to start trouble, and our students reciprocating. Dealing with incidents that happened off-site was a huge drain on our time.

My first job ever was in the co-opy I was fourteen or fifteen , great when teachers say you'll have to stay behind " I can't I have to go work. " Overall in my bag and everything .

I say ‘Markies’

Notsuretoputit · Yesterday 19:40

+ + I would be horrified if I bought a fish supper and the (battered) fish had skin on - would defeat the purpose of it for me! 😂 + +

Nah that’s complete bollocks.

It varies, The Arcade Chip Shop does cod with the skin on, skin off for haddock. Fisherman's Bay does both skinless. Others advertise it as skin off. (Those two are near me).

Heather37231 · Today 01:21

In Scotland we often use possessives when and English person would not. “I’m going to my bed”

We also say that in Newcastle, "A'hm away ter me bed, noo."

”We’re going to Spain on our holidays”

Likewise.

“Away” means “off to” eg

The same, such as: "Get yersel' away ter school! It's late!"

Or, "A'hl away now / noo."

And we say hoose: "Get yersel' back up the hoose, NOW!"

I loved when living in England after another house move managing to find a chippy with no skin on the fish . My poor mum once visited me and I had to tell them all there was skin on the fish , there was just silence in the room .

Saying something is cringe is not being rude. If anything the comments calling people thick for pronouncing the word as “nugget” was much more rude than the cringe comment

Anyway… the whole thing around starting school is one of the biggest differences I see. All the angst you see on here about school allocation places and making sure your child is not an August baby doesn’t happen in Scotland.

The cut off time is end of February meaning you would be at least 4.5 starting school in August. Also you don’t get to pick schools, you go to your local primary (either Catholic or non-dominational depending on your choice in most areas) and that is a feeder into an allocated secondary

Certainly in my experience the difference between the schools in our local area was negligible so it didn’t matter where you went

You could ask for a placing request to a specific school but that was rare. Good thing about this was that all your friends lived walking distance from your house and most, if not all, went to the same high school

As a Scot living in England some of the other differences I see are:

• Chinese and Indian food is not as good is at home (and I live in London so not as if I have limited choice). First thing I do when I go “up the road” is get a Chinese or a Chicken Tikka Chasni as that is not a thing here
• Calling midnight at New Year “The Bells” - “what are you doing for the bells” has been met with blank faces many times
• The having a steak pie on 1st Jan or N’er Day as my gran would have called it
• Thats another one - calling my mum/dad’s mum Gran is that a Scottish thing? As it seems to be Granny/Nan/Nanny in England or even Grandmother in some places
• Cod being the default fish in a fish and chip shop and having to pay more for haddock. Also having to buy the fish and chips separately

And not being able to buy Irn Bru in a glass bottle. It tastes so much better when it comes from a glass bottle than a plastic one or a can