To ask do you say reading or studying: University

[laurzj82]

Hi,

I am just embarking on my first degree at the age of 35 and it got me thinking about people who say that they read xyz subkect at university.

I had never come across the expression before joining Mumsnet and have always referred to it as studying. Am I saying it wrong?

Is it used only for certain subjects or some universities or are the terms interchangeable?

Tia

Reading

I suppose you study at an ex-poly?

No, I teach at an ancient university. I'm just not a colossal bellend. I confess that when I get a student wanging on about reading a subject, my first thought is inevitably 'hmm, I wonder which Oxbridge college you failed to get into'.

Sadly, I am rarely wrong.

No I have ever know has said or says 'reading' they mostly say studying or doing or something like that.
It can be seen as as pretentious to say reading , it's quite old fashioned. Although I don't really care what anyone says they can say wat they like 😁

Only heard the word "reading" in this context when I moved to the UK, not heard it in NZ or the US (where I was working at universities) and it still sounds weird to me.

I saw reading or studying or doing, depending on who I'm talking to. I read/studied/did history, so there was a lot of literal reading.

I went to Oxbridge. I found there was a strong correlation between saying 'reading' and being a twat, but there's nothing intrinsically wrong with it.

I've only heard 'reading' used with any regularity on University Challenge. Only once have I heard someone use 'reading' in person and that was from an extremely insufferable colleague who would tell anyone that would listen that she "read Geography at Oxford don't you know". She was about my age (early 30's) so not old fashioned - just insufferable

having major flashbacks to my first day of uni and being told by our course director 'they call it READING for a degree, because you must READ!'

Some of my colleagues and I regularly remind our students that they are, in fact, reading for a degree. Because, otherwise, a sizeable proportion of them appear to think that it is completely unnecessary to actually read anything to the point that you end up with final year seminar groups where the students (who turn up) are incapable of reading a journal article and even struggle with a broadsheet newspaper article.

You never hear it on Scotland even for the top universities. Glasgow, Edinburgh etc

As kunil says above. It's becoming obsolete.

I'd never actual say (or encourage them to say) I'm reading X at X university. That sounds ridiculous. They tend to say 'I'm doing X', and I tell them that I 'did' Y when I was an undergrad.

The reading thing is more if a seminar refrain.

I'm LOLing at the the thought of

"I'm reading media studies" or "I'm reading hospitality management"

I 'did' chemistry.... a lot of it is doing. Same applies to DD, who will be 'doing' engineering. Sure, there's a heck of a lot of study involved, but not a fat lot of use if you can't do it.

'Read' is a 'correct' term but its a bit anachronistic and not the most accurate.

Ah, snobbery never becomes obsolete, though, eh @19lottie82?

I once worked with a South African trained doctor who was studying for his specialist exams - he referred to how he was "writing" the exam.

I worked in a russell group uni - no one ever said reading relating to an undergrad degree

Buttery I'm no snob, trust me........ my last qualification was a city and guilds in Plastering!

I'd think pretentious wannabe Oxbridge twat if I heard someone say "I'm reading x'

Well I'm just a pretentious Oxbridge twat, as opposed to a wannabe one, and I think I most frequently say study rather than read, but I do throw 'read' out there sometimes when I want to sound pretentious.

Reading is the old word, because it used to be mainly reading and most people were illiterate. Some folks still use the word but studying is fine.

When my daughter finished school, they did a prize thingy and when she got up on stage they said " little blunt wins X Prize for history, she is going on to read law at x uni blah blah blah" past that everyone else says studying.

It reminds me of the film "An Education" when the main character says she's going to read English at university, and a girl says "you mean you're going to read English books."

Most people I know say studying/studied. I associate reading with Oxbridge e.g. "she read Classics at Cambridge".

I'm in my 50s and went to Oxbridge and naturally say 'read'; however, I hope I am not a twat, and my daughters (one Oxbridge, one not) would only ever say 'study', and so most of the time I adapt my language now. Sometimes, however, I forget. I realise this makes me like the people who still talked about the wireless when I was younger. I now wish I had been less internally intolerant of them at the time.

I say studying because I did Eng Lit and it sounds funny to say I'm reading English Lit because ... dub

Duh*

Ether is fine. I agree with Lottie in that "reading" sounds odd when used in conjunction with newer degree subjects.