Being British: Garden Gate, Number Eight

[Shev]

Thanks, everyone for the help with my dilemma.

I like the terms Slapper and Tart. I,ve heard tart before, but I was afraid it was to old for teens of the nineties to use. The other two words that aurokeefy suggested feel to American for me. I hear them used all the time here.

I have another question about Briticisms. I want to introduce an American professor to Hogwarts and i thought of naming him Willie Pratt. If my knowledge of British slang is correct this name should be rather amusing to the students. I may also be way off target. Let me know!

The most likely words from my time as a 90's teenager would be 'slapper' or 'slag'. Both used regularly while I was younger(no, not by me). Also, at least where I grew up, 'fit' wasn't used until much later.

And yes, Willie Pratt would be very amusing to school children. I have a friend who still hates to use his middle name(William) thanks to his time at school.

[Gorgeous_Ginny]

I personally think that Willie Pratt would be a bit to immature for the students of Hogwarts maybe the first year might laugh but as they got to about third year nobody would really laugh.

This is going from experience of school children where I live. I'm not saying they don't have a laugh just its a bit more dry humour really.

[coolh5000]

oh I think I can imagine teenage boys really making fun of a teacher like that, only I can see them doing it in a way that is more mean than just teasing or laughing. I've got an image in my head of `prof pratt the prat` I think maybe the pratt part would provide more opportunity to make fun of than Willie at that age though I'm sure it would still cause some amusement.

[apollo13]

I'm fifteen, and there's a girl in my year with the second name Pratt, and everyone laughs at her.

~Evie

[wendelin the wierd]

In which month do the different seasons arrive in England? I am currently writing a fic with very specific timelines and I would just like to make sure that I have the right seasons in the right month. (Instead of making horrendous mistakes and have reviewers pointing out what is right for ages afterwards.)

Thanks!
~Wendelin

[coolh5000]

It's roughly along the lines of

Spring: March, April, May
Summer: June, July, August
Autumn: September, October, November
Winter: December, January, February

That's how I would say it breaks down. Of course, it's not quite as strict as last and there can be overlaps. It can often be considered winter in November and occasionally the end of feb is quite warm.

I've just had a look at my diary and it has the official dates of the beginning of each season on it (it's an academic diary which is why it starts with last autumn,

Autumn 2007: Sunday 23rd September
Winter 2007: Saturday 22nd December
Spring 2008: Thursday 20th March
Summer 2008: Saturday 21st June

So they basically each last for 3 months, though they tend to officially start at the end of the months I said. Of course, often our weather doesn't care less about the official date a season starts and will throw whatever at us, whenever.

[apollo13]

Yeah, it was so hot last week I thought I'd die, and today it was so cold I thought I'd die.

All you really have to bear in mind for our climate really is that it rains 154 days a year in Britian, and it always rains when you don't want it to - such as a Bank Holiday.

~Evie

[Heather25x]

Willie Pratt would get made fun of...but perhaps not after a certain amount of time...i know someone with the last name Pratt and no one makes fun of him anymore. Although, i have a teacher called "Mrs Payne" and everyone uses that as a joke lol.

And in my experience, winter comes about November (it's still hot in september, i swear!). Summer starts around June, Autumn starts about September, and Spring is around April. But that's just the weather, not the actual, formal ones. Like on my calandar it said "Spring begins" a while ago and it was still cold and raining lol.


~Heather

[Sirius Girl 08]

I have a friend who's surname is Pratt (great guy). He was on a University society committee with me and we arranged a social weekend away. His parents agreed to come away with all of us to do all the cooking for the whole weekend - how much fun we had say that 'The Pratts' were coming Yes we may be between 18-22 years old but that still had us in fits of giggles. (I'm giggling just thinking of it now actually...)

So I would say that the name Pratt would definately be a good name if you want the students to find amusement in his name...add to that the first name 'Willie' and I would say you're on to a winner.

Ruth xXx

[Pheonix Tears]

I too know someone by the name of Pratt. He's horrible though so everyone seems to think they're being witty when they say, "Pratt by name, Pratt by nature."
But oh yes, I still snigger slightly at his name.