MetaFic

It took me so long because it was the first time I'd read it. :p

If you use an Americanism, 90% of your audience won't notice any way so perhaps if in doubt use what you know. One thing i didn't mention was this idea of extra credit projects. It often crops up and , well, apart from no evidence in cannon for them, its not a normal part of the UK education system.

My encouragement is to write the story first. If you want help ask for it once the chapter is written. I did talk to one author who admitted that she knew that a certain object didn't insist in the UK, her beta had pointed it out, but she used it any way as she didn't want to rewrite that part of the fic.

As parakletos says - 90% of the audience won't notice. As an Australian I would say just ask a Brit. (An Aussie if you are desperate :P ) But that is because I am a snob and i like my fics to be 'real' ...

I still mess things up and I've had Britpickers disagree over something as well, so nothing is infallible. (I second 'extra credit' as well ... non existent.)

Well gosh, thanks already! I had Hermione studying hexes beyond the normal DADA curriculum, such what is was under Lockhart. She was doing that as an extra credit project. Hmm... perhaps she and Neville are having a particularly hard time with a couple of Slytherin peers... yeah, that will work! Again, thanks to both of you!

Neither is writing essays to a certain length of parchment. In fact, you could argue that Hogwarts is as little connected to mainstream UK education system as if it were in a separate country.

If you can make your proposed system work in a consistent and sensible way, then your readers will follow where you lead: you'll always have someone carping in the wings, that's just an occupational hazard. If you want to have Hermione, for example, pursue a project outwith the normal curriculum and you can come up with a convincing reason why the relevant professor might award house points for it, go for it.

Oh yes, absolutely if it works for the plot then go for it - it's the phrasing "extra credit" that sets my little British teeth on edge. (and yes I do have British teeth even though I am Australian :P I got parents!) Essays are generally a word limit not a length that's true but I recall that we used to have to write (and we still ask of Primary school students) a certain number of pages or 'half a page'. Before we had word processors to count words we used to be asked in terms of pages not word count. I remember beginning to obsessively calculate the word count during year 12 ...

So I guess I'm saying parchment length as an essay measure doesn't bother me so much as the phrase 'extra credit'. Hermione doesn't need extra credit to do extra work though! Maybe that's the otehr reason it bugs me lol. WHen an author has Hermione do work for extra credit that's so OOC ...

I use this site as a starting point for UK slang, in terms of what it means, who uses it, and how it's viewed:

http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/index.htm

I don't have any verification that it's accurate and/or current, but it's something. I'd be interested to hear what any of our UK/Aussie members think of it.

LOL from what I see that's at least accurate for Australia! I didn't have time to read much however but I'm familiar with most of what I saw :D .

Most Brit slang is either the same or we are aware what the counterpart is. eg. in England a Chav = Australian Bogan. (regionally in NSW/Victoria a Westie) As far as I'm aware they don't use the term bogan in the UK ... but they so should :P

Its a good site, but context is key for me. Also regional variations matter as well.

One of the best features is that on some words and phrases, it does list the region or origin or use. I've run across a few slang terms that are peculiar to Devon, for example.

Holidays= vacations

i.e summer hols. Christmas is a holiday as is Easter. St Valentines is not.

Bet you can't work out what prompted this....

Oh, I can guess.

What I want to separate, for my own curiosity, are the ideas of having a religious or secular occasion, and that of being away from school/work.

Here's what I know/think. In the UK, if you're going off someplace for R&R for some period of time (a week, a summer, etc), that's a holiday. Likewise if you get a day or more off of work/school because of a religious or secular event, that's a holiday, too. Some of those might be called bank holidays, but I'm not clear on which or why.

Are there any secular or religious events/memorials which are recognised, but on which people do not get off from school or work? Examples in the U.S. might be Columbus Day or Good Friday (some get those off, some don't). If there are such, what are they called collectively to differentiate them from occasions when you are off of school/work?

Finally, is the word 'vacation' used as a noun at all? I'm fairly sure it's still used as a verb . . . "soandso is vacationing in the south of France," or something.

I wonder... Does it have anything to do with that little Waiting for Godot re-enactment on that other site I play admin on?

Probably not.

Essentially , Dave, you are correct.

One example is St George's Day which is not a holiday in England. Good Friday is a Bank Holiday so everyone gets that (unless your contract of employment says different). As far as I know there is no collective noun for them.

Rather than vacationing its more normal to use holidaying. There is some cultural/linguistic bleed so it is used by some people.

As a guide (better than trusting a junior school I think) try this site:

http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/bank-public-holidays/

probably ...

Now I wanna know what you all mean :P .

Remembrance Day would be another day that is not a holiday. I don't think the UK gets that off? In Oz we do get ANZAC Day off collectively they are 'public holidays'. I have noticed that July 4 is 'a holiday'. Labor Day is 'a holiday'. You 'take a vacation'. In America.

Such holidays in Australia are defined as Public Holiday because when you "take a vacation" you "go on holidays". 'The holidays' refers to school holidays. Not winter break or spring break or whatever. Summer holidays. Christmas holidays. You also don't call this end of the year with Christmas etc 'the holidays' the way I see collective American holidays termed around this time of the year. you hav 'the Christmas holiday.'

It's all very confusing. the point I came here to waffle about was actually how I loathe and despise the term vacation and things like 'spring break' used in fanfics. Of course Easter has to be difficult - that one actually is called Easter Break! :P

Was this the right place to whinge about that? Ooops ... :P

Public and bank holidays

When the Christmas and New Year public holidays fall at a weekend, other week days are declared public holidays.

Essentially its the same down under as it is here.

I'm just waiting for the plague of fics where Hermione explains Kissing Day to everyone and Harry mentions it happening in his primary school. Given that the oldest person in our family has no recollection of it, it's probably safe to say it died a death before the farthing did.

The farthing is dead??!! Oh crap!! Look, just don't tell anyone and I won't have to pay up on that bar bet. Lord knows it will cost me a pretty penny.

And the first one...

So this plot bunny appeared when SIYE posted news about opening up a category for holiday stories and then mentioned that Kissing Friday was a holiday in England. How I missed this holiday when I lived there, I don't know. (Actually I do-- it hasn't been celebrated since the 40s and I was there in '95. I'm not quite that old). Thanks to deadwoodpecker for her help with this.

Dave has posted a link to a neat Brit-Yank dictionary. Unfortunately you have to already have an idea of what to look for when using it. Are there any well used terms besides "wicked", "brilliant", "bloody hell", and "pants." :-)

Basically if I'm going through the effort to keep track of what days are full moons for Remus to be missing from action, I would also like to know what sort of idioms a teen-aged British girl would use in the early 1990s (ahem, that's Hermione by the way). Would the Weasleys, who seem to spend all their time in the magical world, really know Muggle slang? Especially Ron and Ginny. Would the Wizards have their own idioms? How archaic might those terms be? How much would filter through from Muggle-borns? Er... well, that last is for me to figure out.

What would be a likely insult phrase to a girl used by upper class English in the late 1930s/early 1940s. I'm imagining Tom Riddle taking on airs of the upper class to get away from what he considers an embarrassingly common upbringing.

- Chuck

Hermione in the 1990s?

Maybe 'mad for it' - enthusiastic or eager - I just can't imagine her using much slang! lol

Wow - here's something I didn't know - 'moody' is British/London slang for "suspicious, not genuine"! Crikey! (That's AUssie slang - don't use that one! :P)

The 1940s one ... possibly NTD - stands for Not Top Drawer. Here: http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/browse/ZN.HTM it says it is British snobbish slang for disapproval or low quality.

HTH

Ahem, nothing personal Kezza, but... Rant on:
See, this is where I think Hermione gets a bum rap in fanfiction (versus a rap on the bum, which only Ron is allowed to give). So many times she's portrayed as intellectual to the point of not caring about looks or socializing. But canon Hermione does wear pink, she did (at age 12!) try to use her feminine wiles to butter up Hagrid and get information out of him, and she sure cleaned up nice enough for an international sports star to notice her. Rant off.

I can imagine Hermione would socialize with her non-magical peers enough to use whatever popular slang is making the rounds. I'm sure Lily did too, for that matter. ETA - The popular character link is Lily to Ginny, but I think a more plausible character link is Lily to Hermione.
Steve Irwin was popular quite popular here in the States so we know "Crikey!" is VERY Aussie. :-)
Thanks for the rest of the info!

I don't think her not using slang has anything to do with looks and socialising. I can't imagine her using slang becasue she is a very well brought up, particular young lady. What has using slang got to do with using feminine wiles or wearing pink? I never said anything about that. She exudes the image of a very proper and correct person, not one who uses slang. She actually isn't a child who socialises a lot. I don't know why it would be any different in the Muggle world to how it is in the magical world.

That said using slang isn't dependent on socialisation. I'm just not sure how you made that leap. *shrugs* When Hermione uses slang type language in canon it is a bit of a surprise to Ron and Harry - makes them start or smirk. I think the strongest she gets on a regular basis is 'rubbish!'

Someone said to me the other day that "loads of people" think the Harry/Ginny relationship is rather Œdipal: thank you for the perfect counter. The closest match to his mother amongst his closest friends is the one he sees as more like a sister: the resemblance between Ginny and Lily is far more cosmetic. Having said that, having been told just how marvellous and wonderful his mother was (once he was out from under the woeful influence of Petunia and Vernon, anyway) would it be such a great surprise if he wanted to find a girl just as wonderful and marvellous?

I'm posting this because the word was used in one of my reviews. The aim is not to offend but to educate.

spunk noun 1 colloq courage; mettle. 2 slang semen. spunkily adverb. spunkless adj. spunky adj.
ETYMOLOGY: 19c as sense 2; 18c as sense 1; 16c in obsolete sense 'a spark'.

These days the second definition is its only use. I don't think I've ever heard it used any other way except where the use is deliberately archaic.

I'm from a completely different part of the world, but I have heard 'spunk' used in the first sense. Most often as an adjective, i.e. "spunky". I would say that it's most often applied to young females (pre-pubescent) who are bold, outspoken, and/or spirited, but it can also apply to males or older children. The other use I've heard is "she/he's got spunk," with the same basic meaning.

I tend to gravitate toward the first definition. My grandparents often talked about my cousins and me as "full of spunk" and I've had coaches use that in relation to effort in sports when I played way back in high school. "You've got spunk, kid, and that's something ya can't teach."

-Jonathan

- A good novel is an indivisible sum; every scene, sequence and passage of a good novel has to involve, contribute to and advance all three of its major attributes: theme, plot, characterization.
Ayn Rand - The Romantic Manifesto p. 74 (pb 93)

It has another colloquial use actually - we used to refer to the good looking blokes as 'a bit of a spunk'. I also use the first definition more than the second also. I don't use the word a lot though unless referring to good looking blokes though!

Well, I was commenting on its use in the UK. I'm sorry, but any other use just brings out my inner school boy and I have a good snigger. :p

That's not a UK use? oops ... I assume too much.

Snigger away ... I am currently proving I a 12 years old and sniggering any time someone says banana ...

Why would you snigger anytime someone says banana? I say banana all the time. In fact, I have several bananas at home. Bananas are rich in nutrients, you know. The medical benefits of regular banana consumption have been proven scientifically. So, by all means, go out right now and eat a banana!

You're ... trying to make me snigger!

Let me just put it this way ... bananas are phallic. Their use in fanfiction and my participation in a fanfiction podcast has made me ... giggle about them. The xxx rated mobile phone ads at midnight last night on the telly did *not* help.

I will leave further imaginings to your ... well to your imagination *evil grin*