Being British XI

[Iliria]

Alot of our digital clocks are 24hr now, including phones and the like but it is very rare that someone would use it in speech, especially general conversation. I have never really heard someone say, for example, "At 1600 hours." or even "It's seventeen twenty-five" though the second would probably be more likely. So if you saying something like "His alarm clock read 16:40" then 24hr is the most common but if your using it in conversation I'd say stick to 12hr as it is alot more common here.

Ria x

[mahogany_wand]

I was wondering what types of dance are popular there in Britain. Not just to watch, either, I mean what kind of dance classes are offered.

Also, do you ever use the term "scene girl" there?

Thanks!

~M_W

[elena rose]

Yes, we use 'scene girl', or perhaps 'scenester' (a British indie rock band, The Cribs, wrote a song named 'Hey Scenesters!' which I definitely recommend checking out). Obviously, though, it's a new phrase and it *is* American in origin - it came over through pop culture; whether that changes anything I don't know.

As for types of dance, at the moment a dramatised form of street dance - I realise that's a bit wordy, sorry - is really popular. If you YouTube 'Diversity' or 'Flawless' from Britain's Got Talent you'll see what I mean. But you can learn basically any type of dance, from salsa to line dancing and the myriad things between. Swing dancing seems particularly popular where I live at the moment, but I don't know if that's nationwide or just round here. And there again, it would depend who your character is: obviously little girls are more likely to learn ballet or tap, whereas older women might go for tango or salsa. (I realise that's a bit female-centric, haha, but I don't know any male dancers...)

And street dance itself is very popular. I presume there's a US equivalent but I can't think what it might be called; it's essentially just dancing to popular club tracks. The kind of dancing that backing-dancers might do on a pop band's tour.

Hope that helped a little bit, at least!

[A.H.]

This is a rather embarrassing question, but you'll have to excuse the fool who dropped out of school before taking extensive History/Geography lessons.

In a very small, reference/passing statement, Sirius recalls Bellatrix and X talking about a planned attack on an official figure in Brittan; I wanted this person to be high up in authority but not too high up; a person with a voice to the public but lacking real power. I'm wondering if anyone can offer me a title? I really have very little understanding of the British government system.

Thank you to anyone who can help. I might mention that all I'm using this person as is a title (e.g. "She said they were planning to ambush [title], and had I not done this, they would have killed him/her.") so you needn't be too helpful with an explanation of their position. It'll most likely all go over my head anyway.

-Ari-

[Equinox Chick]

Hmmm, no real power but in government - I presume.

Okay well you could have a Ministerial Press Secretary. Or a Junior Minister to whichever department you think is appropriate. (Junior Minister to the Home Office (that's law), Health Department, Foreign Office)

It could be that as a Junior Minister they've just started to make a name for themselves, and thus get interviewed a lot on TV.

Carole

[Northumbrian]

Junior Ministers are a good choice, (after all Herbert Chorley was one, so it’s good enough for JKR) they’re Members of Parliament who are on the rise. The next step up is a Cabinet post, the Cabinet are referred to as Secretary’s of State and they’re pretty much the next level in seniority after the Prime Minister.

They have a plethora of titles, many of which are positively medieval, like:
Chancellor of the Exchequer (deals with Government Finances)
Foreign Secretary (deals with Foreign Affairs): to give just one example, the man the UK media refer to as “the Foreign Secretary” is in fact “The Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs.”
Home Secretary (deals with Justice and the Police)
Defence Secretary (deals with the Military)
Scottish Secretary (deals with Scotland)
Not all Ministers are elected, they can also be taken from the House of Lords and it’s not unknown for a person to be ennobled in order to bring them into Government, so a Secretary of State or Junior Minister might also be a Lord.

Outside Central, National Government are Local Authorities, by far the biggest is London. The Mayor of London has a lot of power in the Capital. Some other Local Authorities have Mayors, but most are run by the elected Leader of the Council.

Police Forces are Local and are run by a Chief Constable (who is not elected),
except London, where the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis runs things,
except for the City of London, which has a separate Commissioner.

N

[Northumbrian]

Other notes about Geography

Britain is an island, one big island, nothing else.
Great Britain (aka the British Isles) is the island of Britain and all of the smaller islands surrounding it.
The United Kingdom is Great Britain plus Northern Ireland.

Britons are the people who were here when the Romans arrived.
I don’t know anyone who claims to be British.
I’m English, Northumbrian if I’m being picky, I work with a Scot.

N

[CakeorDeath]

Other notes about Geography

Britain is an island, one big island, nothing else.
Great Britain (aka the British Isles) is the island of Britain and all of the smaller islands surrounding it.
The United Kingdom is Great Britain plus Northern Ireland.

Britons are the people who were here when the Romans arrived.
I don’t know anyone who claims to be British.
I’m English, Northumbrian if I’m being picky, I work with a Scot.

N

I call myself British

That's probably because my mum is from Northern Ireland.

[Yellow_Rose]

Same here, but again, I'm a mixture. I live in England, but I'm a quarter Nothern Irish and a quarter southern Irish, plus a bit of scot. But I do find that in general British people refer to themselves as from whatever country they're from (if that makes sense). Particuarly scots .

[Padfoot Patronus]

I'm wondering how likely is James Snr to use the words 'hormones' for example when refering to Lily's pregnant state? Or would it not be okay/not considered suitable for him to make a remark on this? Is this too American? Or too '90s as compared to '70s?

Also, do you use the words second and third degree burns? Is it in your language like the words 'bloody' and 'trousers'. Or is it one of those words in which we begin to make a distinction between what a Muggle will use and Wizard won't. Would it be all right for James to use it?

Thanks in advance.

-Akay