British words

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 18908

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., jenfold at y... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., joym999 at a... wrote:
> > I wanted to add my name to the chorus of Americans who HAVE heard 
> the 
> > word "tripe" used to mean "nonsense."  This may be a regional 
> thing; 
> > remember the "out of pocket" discussion?
> > 
> > Also, Amy Z.  said that she hoped that the word "Miss" has, more 
> > recently, been replaced with "Ms." in British public schools.
> 
>  Public schools I have no idea about, as for some reason (why I 
know 
> not) schools which are called public schools in the UK are actually 
> fairly exclusive private schools such as Eton or 'Smeltings.'
> 
>  What Americans call public shools we call state schools.
>  
>   While I have noticed that in Ms. is commonly used in the U.S., 
> especially 
> > in professional situations, I get the impression that this is 
less 
> > true in the U.K.  Is it true that Brits are more like to use Miss 
> and 
> > Mrs. than Americans are?  (Although I have to agree with Amy -- I 
> > dont like being called Miss OR Mrs. at all, especially in a 
> > professional setting.  What does my marital status have to do 
with 
> > professional abilities?)
> 
>  Sorry! But yes you're right Miss is most commonly used in schools 
to 
> address female teachers regardless of marital status. Although 
don't 
> most american children address female teachers as Ma'am, or is that 
> just a common misconception promoted by the peanuts comic strip? 
> While male teachers are addressed as either Mr or Sir depending on 
> context. Although having said that at my High School we had one 
> female teacher who was married but had kept her maiden name and 
> demanded that we called her Ms, which caused no problems it's just 
> not in widespread use. 

Some all boys' schools are sticklers for titles.  I cannot for the 
life of me remember where I got this anecdote from, but it was told 
to me first hand by someone.  He refered to a school teacher as Mr ---
 (insert whatever his sirname was).  The teacher in question rounded 
on him and said, "Sir to you, boy!"

Charming!

Catherine