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?

Thanks for explaining. We’re about an hour north east of Glasgow, probably why I’ve not heard of them.

An expression I love is 'The place was hoaching!'

Hoaching means 'overrun with' and it's used colloquially to mean busy or filthy or, sometimes, both.

I'm not sure if English people cheer when they cross the border back into England in the same way every Scot I know cheers when they return to Scotland. Entire coachloads of Scots cheering at the border! 😁

Another expression I've just heard on Radio Scotland 'do you think they should have got the jail?'

Scottish too and it was always known as breakfast/lunch/dinner. Supper was tea and toast usually…

I love this sort of thing. I need you to break down for me what is different about this to how an English person would say it as it sounds completely normal to me

Do you think they should’ve gone to jail? Do you believe they should’ve been jailed?

Oh yes. We always do "wait for it.....wait for it........yaaaaaay"

And we always think about the character from Absolutely that used to jump up and down and shake his fist at the border.

Yes! And I sing ‘Scotland the brave’ in the key of D….dee Dee Dee Dee de dede

Aah yes! I think we add "the" onto a lot of things in Scotland. "I'm going the now", "he's starting the big school in September", that sort of thing

😂 yes!

"Woooooooooooaaaaah.......YEEEAAAH!"

👏🏻

Im in Scotland, i would say 'he' s going to jail', 'he's starting high school'. I have never said 'going the now' in my life. Is this not more a working class Scotland thing v anywhere else, rather than a Scotland v England thing?

@Edinburgal

Yes, I'm from a working class family. The same people who don't say "the now" are the ones who buy double noogahs from Luca's.

I worked for years on the east coast in and around Edinburgh. Sometimes I feel like there's a bigger cultural divide between Glasgow and Edinburgh than between Glasgow and some northern English cities.

@Doublenoogahsilvousplait haha brilliant, that made me laugh. I agree with that too.

It depends where you work in Edinburgh. I think the life of a docker in Leith in the 50s would have been more similar to the life of a shipyard worker in Govan than a lawyer in the New Town.

I saw nugget (or I would if I were to buy it which is never going to happen) but I wouldn’t say “the now”. My elderly relatives would have though.

That’s not an English thing, it’s a MN thing, and how can you be sure that the posters you’re thinking of are English? It is not common in England not to have one’s MIL’s number. The people who post on MN about families tend to be the ones who have issues.

I agree. I loved my MIL, she was like a second mother to me.

Can someone please explain the plain bread to me.

I have googled it and it just looks like a bog standard bloomer loaf that I can buy in any supermarket in England. So, what is the difference?

Plain bread has a hard crust top and bottom, the crust is often blackened, it has a closer crumb texture and makes the best toast ever. Very different from a bloomer loaf.

This is a plain loaf - food of the gods

I don’t use ‘the now’ but very commonly used here….’when are you going?’ ‘I’m going the now’

Google mother's pride bread. It has a very black crust and is cooked in batches where the loaves are stuck together. That's why the crust doesn't go all the way round like a loaf of warburtons for example (a pan loaf)

Agree that toast from a plain loaf is better than pan

I now wish I could find some Scottish plain bread, but I doubt that I could in deepest South Yorkshire

When English people describe something being in or on something else, they never say “it”. For, example an English person would say they like orange juice with bits in but I’d have to add “it” at the end or it would sound odd.

Also things like where’s you dress from, please? I’ve never known a Scottish person to say please when asking that type of question, it doesn’t feel necessary.

I’ve never heard random “please” added to sentences by English people

I think some of these generalisations about “English people” are very odd. My mum was from Yorkshire, my brother lives in the NW of England, I used to live in London - many of these “English” and “Scottish” things are totally alien to me. To me many of these things are far more about UK regional difference than Scottish/English cultural difference.