Being British XI

[Iliria]

Our school had a rule about walking on the left side of the corridors, we had signs and everything I think alot of schools are introducing it as the one I'm working at atm has signs to. I have also heard that the way to find your way through a maze is to follow the left-hand wall. Random fact but may have a simliar origin.

Ria.

[psijupiter]

When I was at school we had to walk on the left as well. On escalators, people stand on the right, so other people can walk up on the left (or they are supposed to!) From what I can recall, most people do walk on the left hand side of corridors/stair cases.

I read a book where the author tried to find out which side people moved to if you were walking towards someone on the street, and I think she concluded that British people always moved to the left.

[Sapphire at Dawn]

Our school had a rule about walking on the left side of the corridors, we had signs and everything I think alot of schools are introducing it as the one I'm working at atm has signs to. I have also heard that the way to find your way through a maze is to follow the left-hand wall. Random fact but may have a simliar origin.

Ria.

Yeah, my school was pretty hot on it. We didn't have any signs but if you met certain teachers in the corridors then you would be told off if you didn't walk on the left.

And that maze thing isn't true. Well it isn't for the one at Longleat; I just got lost for hours doing that

[jubjub15]

i want to put in that Ron will be in a lot of trouble for being late, and i mean A LOT, what sort of English phrase could i put in, i thought of 'in a lot of hot water' but are there any others because i dont think that one is very British! :/

[psijupiter]

You might say he's going to "cop it," or he's "in shtook," or "in deep s***." Or if he's going to be late he's going to get grief. (This is the one I can see Ron using.) Hope that helps!

[hestiajones]

Do you think 'Mom" and "Dad' were commonly used in the 50's? Or do you think "Ma" and 'Pa" are more appropriate? I am writing a fic on Molly's childhood.

What about 'prat'? Was that used then? Or what would be a 50's way of calling a prat "prat"?

[Sapphire at Dawn]

I think (feel free, anyone, to correct me if I'm wrong) that Mum and Dad are relatively recent words. My Dad, who grew up in the sixties, uses Ma and Pa, so I think you're safe with that one. Mother and Father, I think, would have been used too, and maybe Ma and Da.

As for the prat thing, I have absolutely no idea, sorry!

Sarah x

[TomMcGriddle]

Nah, mum and dad existed in the 50's. As did 'mummy' and 'daddy'. I think it goes by the character, really. Like, in the 50's I'd say only really small or posh kids would use 'mummy' and 'daddy', and 'mum' or 'dad' would be more common among working class/middle class families.

[Equinox Chick]

Ma and Da would probably be used more in the North of England and Wales perhaps. I think Molly would say mummy and daddy then switch to mum and dad as she got older (11/12ish). I also think that Mummy gets shortened to Mum earlier that Daddy to Dad but have no idea why.
Upper class children like Justin Finch Fletchly would refer to their mum as their Mother, but probably call her Mummy to her face.
I don't know if anyone remembers but when it was the Queen of Englands birthday (or Jubilee) Prince Charles, aged around 60, stood up and said 'Congratultions, Mummy.'

Just make sure you are saying Mum and not Mom - although I have a friend in middle England who calls herself a MOM - it's not usual (and to be frank it might be her spelling error LOL).

prat- it is an old word, basically it used to mean bottom and is now used to mean a fool. However I think in the fifties you'd be more likely to use the term twit, because 'prat' still had impolite connotations. To this day, my mum won't use the word prat.

Ron - in hot water We would use that, but I think the suggestion 'getting grief' is better or 'I'm getting earache over it' is more of a Ron type expression.

Carole

[Northumbrian]

Things haven't changed since long before the fifties. To add to what others have said:

Mummy, or Mammy and Daddy is used by young children.

Mummy and Daddy by rich kids, or Mother and Father (or even Mater and Pater, though i've only heard that used sarcastically in recent years.

Mum is southern England Mam, North (usually north east) and Ma north west (I think). I've never heard anyone say Mom.

Dad is just is sometimes Da in the north west, but I've never heard it elsewhere, I've heard Fatha' in the north east.