Being British XI

[hestiajones]

Thanks to everyone!

I think I'll take - Mummy and Daddy - something which all of you have agreed upon.

As for "prat", that was enlightening, Carole. I think I'll just take your advice and use "twit."

[sorrow_of_severus]

I'm writing my submission for the How To Charm Snakes One-Shot Challenge. In it, an adult son grudgingly allows his elderly mother to move to with him and his wife to India during the mid to late 1800's. Right after they get to India, the mother tells her daughter-in-law that she talked to a snake in the garden. The son wants to send his mother to an insane asylum back in London with "some experience dealing such things" for a couple of months. Once she gets out, he wants her to stay in England. What kind of care might a fairly affluent man have arranged for his elderly mother in that time period?

[Equinox Chick]

Hmm,

I'd suggest he hires what they used to call a 'companion' to look after his mother. In reality she'd be a nurse who could watch over his mother.

There were women, usually a poor relation, who would go and live with older rich women and get paid a pittance to care for the aging relative. A companion would go everywhere, and generally be at the beck and call of the family.

Carole

[Sapphire at Dawn]

Yep, I agree with Carole, a companion would have bee hired.

The asylums at that time were horrible, horrible places. My housemate is doing mental health nursing and has just had a few lectures about them. If you need any info about them, just PM me and I can aske her.

Sarah x

[Northumbrian]

For historic research (and a good read) you could read pretty much any Charles Dickens for an idea of the mid ninteenth century. Wilkie Collins is another good read.

If you move closer to the end of the century you can't go wrong with Sir Arthur Conan Doyles most famous creation. Bram Stoker's Dracula has a good description of an Asylum, too.

N

[ahattab33]

I have a question concerning Halloween costumes around the end of the 1980s (specifically 1989)- I am looking for a costume that a Wizard child would not recognize, but that a Muggle child would commonly dress up as.

Thanks!

~Amanda

[psijupiter]

A wizard may not recognise some of the Muggle interpretations of zombies, vampires, werewolves, mermaids, fairies etc, and the whole sheet-with-eye-holes ghost costume would probably confuse them! Anything that is inspired by books or films would probably pass them by, so perhaps see what films were popular that year? I'm thinking things like Disney Princesses, aliens, and so on.

(Just to add, I was six in 1989 and have no memory at all of ever dressing up for Halloween, at least not until I was in my mid-teens. My parents didn't like Halloween though, so I may not be entirely representative! )

Hope that helps!

[Equinox Chick]

(Just to add, I was six in 1989 and have no memory at all of ever dressing up for Halloween, at least not until I was in my mid-teens. My parents didn't like Halloween though, so I may not be entirely representative! )

I don't think anyone dressed up that much, unless there was a specific party going on.

Amanda - Although costumes are more elaborate now (and not really that Halloween ish), in the eighties it would be something pretty basic. A witch costume would consist of a long nose, complete with warts, a pointy hat and black robes. Or ... Frankenstein perhaps. I doubt wizards/witches would know anything about Shelley's creation. But otherwise the very pathetic sheet over the head would be thought of as really cool.

Carole

[Northumbrian]

Amanda

Halloween is a fairly new event. I seem to remember reading somewhere that it didn’t really exist before the movie ET came out, though I could be misremembering. Guy Fawkes night, (November 5th) was always much bigger. Now, Halloween and costumes are big business in the supermarkets. Then it would be sheets over the head and witches hats. The Frankenstein Monster is probably your best bet, or possibly something ET related?

[LilyLunaPotter]

Question! So, we know that the OWL grades are O, E, A, etc. But since Hermione had to explain these to Harry and Ron, if I remember correctly, we also know these were not normal homework grades. So, on an ordinary essay or assignment, how would it be graded? Would it be a simple pass/fail, or letter grades A, B, C like in the US, or numbers, or what?