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?

The Sunday thing has caught us out a few times (Scottish, visiting England). Once we went to Asda at about 9.30, picked out a few things, but weren't allowed to pay for them till 10am .

A juvenile delinquent from the back streets of the Gorbals might wear "gutties."

I wondered what they were going on about 'daps' I know them as 'plimsolls'

Not sure why my message has been hidden, I was simply commenting that I knew daps as plimsolls in Scotland

The Sunday hours still catch me out and I've been here over a decade!

I remember at secondary school in Glasgow in the 70s I used to go home for lunch and people used to go down to the local shop where they sold single cigarettes!

I'm not sure when it stopped that secondary school.pupils couldn't leave scool.at lunch time , I left school in 1990 and we were allowed to leave school at lunch
I thought it was to do with the tightening of security in school.after the Dunblane, massacre?
Maybe I'm wrong though.

These depend on the school. At my DD's primary there was no packed lunch police, they were very understanding with attendance but there were rules about walking - they had to be Y5 so 9yo.

When I went into a chippy in England and asked for a fish supper they had no clue what I was talking about 🤣

They also don't have butteries, but I believe that's a regional thing.

The alcohol buying rule. 10am-10pm you can buy it in supermarkets. It used to be from 1230pm to 10pm on Sundays. I don’t think that’s a thing in England??

the back of (insert time)

Juice = Scotland.

Where I am, all fizzy drinks are ‘ginger!’ 😂

@x2boys

But Dunblane is in Scotland so you'd think the rules would be tighter here.

That's why I think it's a cultural thing. Primary school children in Scotland are also more likely to walk to and from school at a younger age I reckon. I've worked in lots of schools and most are walking by themselves by primary 5.

@MrsMoastyToasty I've never heard of gutties! I'd call them sandshoes.

I think that's what I've found hardest living here - I know words/phrases that are inherently Scottish and usually avoid saying them to avoid confusion (doing the messages, meeting at the back of whenever etc). But I get caught out by things I don't realise are Scottish until someone tells me or doesn't understand me. Things like diluting juice instead of cordial, tomato sauce instead of ketchup, saying 'I'm away to bed' or 'I'm having a long lie'.....so so many!

I’m amazed that there’s a single chip shop in the country who doesn’t know what a fish supper is. Definitely a common thing to say and hear in England.

😲😲 no..I wore gutties! I definitely wasn’t a juvenile delinquent from the Gorbals!! Although, nothing wrong with the Gorbals in my opinion 🤷‍♀️

I thought daps were plimsolls?

I think this is more primary schopl.tbh ,
Some Academy school!s have very strict uniform rules but ime,its when schools ate failing they tends to get ridiculously strict on uniform
My son left school.last year and whilst they had a uniform it wasn't a ridiculously one

All of those things are in common use in North East England. Genuinely surprised that they aren’t in other parts of the country.

Gutties for my parents' generation, sannies for mine.

Also frequently surprised by words and phrases I would have sworn down weren't Scottish.

"Uplifted"
"Through by"
"Put it for by"
"Outwith"

What is a buttery?

Same in my 1980,s English school.there are as a shop.that specifically sold a cigarette and a match for ten pence to school.kids imagine the outrage these days !

There's another fairly long thread on this and my main annoyance is the faux ignorance by English (maybe SW) that they've never heard of very common things to do with Scotland, yet likewise are astonished that everyone aren't experts on London.
Particularly a phrase or word that is very easily figured out but you get the 'oh I've no clue what that can mean'

In England, 16-year olds who wanted to leave school used to be referred to as NEETS (not in education, employment or training).
So they had to do one of the followibg

• Any employment such as window cleaning, retail, working in the family business is counted.
• Training covers apprenticeships and the armed forces.
• Education covers further education, eg sixth form college where you do A levels or an @FE college with vocational courses.

I must confess I don't know what would happen with a 16 year old who sits at home gaming all day, being kept by Mum and Dad. But I cycnically think it was also to stop 16 year olds just leaving school and signing on for unemployment benefits... I suspect if they don't actually sign on they just fall through the cracks.

@Notsuretoputit that's interesting - I've visited the NE but not spent enough time there to pick up on local language. I'm in SW England, and have a partner from South England, so my experiences are based on that.

I miss 'messages' meaning shopping in Scotland