I've got a question. In my readings of British literature from around the 1910s to the 30s, I've noticed a lot of characters will end their sentences in "What?" I was wondering if anyone knows why. It certainly doesn't seem to be in vogue anymore. My theory is that it's similar to the Canadian, "eh?" For example:

"Those dogs certainly bark loudly, what?"

I agree with your observation. I noticed a lot of that when reading the P.G. Wodehouse Bertie and Jeeves stories. "What ho, Jeeves!"

BTW I have a question. Are the British GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) exams the equivalent of the American SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test)? And are British kids just as nervous about getting a good score on those as American kids with the SAT? (I'm sure everyone wants to get good scores, so that might be a silly question).

I think it depends on what age people are when they sit for the GSCE or the SAT exams, and whether there is a further level, success in which enables a student to qualify for University entry. I was under the impression that the GSCE was a minimum qualification to leave school with in UK, and that it was also called 'O' levels.

My mother tried to get me to learn Irish Gaelic as a child, but I was pretty resistant to it (as far as I was concerned it was a bit of a 'useless' language, since everyone in Ireland spoke English anyway. Now I can see she wanted to forge a connection with my heritage and I wish I'd kept it up). It would be harder to learn than a language such as French because there's less material on it

Even French is hard to learn if you don't keep at it and have plenty of people to practise talking the language to. Going to France was a real eye-opener. After majoring in French literature and five years learning French at high school I was nowhere near good enough to speak French fluently, for everyday use due to many years of not practising the language since completing that degree.

Interesting points about jam, jelly, preserves, and so on. I think the gelatin-based dessert being called 'Jell-O' in the US is a testimony to the strength of trademark names catching on here; other examples are facial tissues, which are often referred to by the trademarked 'Kleenex' or (especially in times gone by) photocopies were sometimes called 'Xeroxes' and making a copy was 'Xeroxing.'

It's not just here that trademark names catch on. I know a girl originally from Bulgaria and she said that they call all diapers Pampers there.

Yes we have Pampers here as well. But in general, we don't call such items diapers. We normally call babies' napkins, nappies. Another name for table napkins I was taught to use as a child was 'serviette'. I wonder if that term has vanished altogether.

The Australian school year is generally as follows:

Term 1 - 27th January (public schools)/early February (private) to 2nd April
2 week Easter break

Term 2 - 19th April to 2nd July
2 week break

Term 3 - 19th July to 24th September
2 week break

Term 4 - 11th October to 10th December
7-8 week break Christmas/Summer holidays

*Rinse and repeat*

Sorry, that is last year's time table. Over here in the East, Term 1 starts Friday 28th January 2011, and finishes 8th April 2011. In other words it starts directly after the Australia Day Public Holiday on January 26th. Support staff generally start back at work somewhat earlier.

Term 2 starts Wednesday 27th April 2011, and finishes Friday 1st July 2011. That is a curious situation, because of Easter Monday coinciding with Anzac Day on 25th April, 2011, so we are getting an extra day holiday on Tuesday 26th April. Probably you as well, in South Australia.

Term 3 starts Monday 18th July 2011, and finishes Friday 23rd September 2011.
Whilst Term 4 starts Monday 10 October 2011 and finishes Tuesday 20th December 2011.

I found this information online. As far as possible, I believe, School holidays tend to coincide with any Public Holidays to avoid unnecessary disruption to the school year, to child-minding and family arrangements and to co-ordinate between the various levels of education. Some of the extra days and weeks senior students are spared from attending classes are due to staff being fully involved in lesson preparation, enrolments, assessments and marking exams and assignments for end of year results.

Do schools in USA get a holiday for Easter, and is it as short as your Christmas/New Year holidays?

So more Brit questions: How do New Zealand accents differ from yours? Irish? Scottish?

The difference between Australian and New Zealand English is in the vowel shifts New Zealanders use being different from ours. A colleague who spent many years living in New Zealand always referred to the Olympics as the Olumpics. And 'fish and chips' in Australia sounds like 'fush and chups' when a New Zealander asks for them.

I don't know much about how the Irish speak, but when the Scots talk about head or bread, it sounds like 'heed' or 'breed', rather than the way we say it, as 'hed' or 'bred'. Or they say 'it's a braw bricht moonlicht nicht tonicht'.

I think it depends on what age people are when they sit for the GSCE or the SAT exams, and whether there is a further level, success in which enables a student to qualify for University entry. I was under the impression that the GSCE was a minimum qualification to leave school with in UK, and that it was also called 'O' levels.

They used to be called O-Levels, I think that was in the 70's/80's.

GSCE's are indeed the minimum requirement for leaving school, but I think that they might differ from the US SATS in that they aren't enough to get you into university. Normally after GSCE's you can chose to stay on for another two years, which is called sixth form, and get qualifications called A-levels which are what universities are looking for. GSCE's are taken at 15-16, am I right in thinking that the SATS are later?

My mother tried to get me to learn Irish Gaelic as a child, but I was pretty resistant to it (as far as I was concerned it was a bit of a 'useless' language, since everyone in Ireland spoke English anyway. Now I can see she wanted to forge a connection with my heritage and I wish I'd kept it up). It would be harder to learn than a language such as French because there's less material on it

Even French is hard to learn if you don't keep at it and have plenty of people to practise talking the language to. Going to France was a real eye-opener. After majoring in French literature and five years learning French at high school I was nowhere near good enough to speak French fluently, for everyday use due to many years of not practising the language since completing that degree.

This was sort of my point, that learning a language without full immersion is difficult. The difference between French and a language like Irish Gaelic is that immersing yourself in French is far easier than with Gaelic. There are a few areas in Ireland where Gaelic is still the first language (called Gaeltachts areas) but generally English is prominent and most people aren't fluent in Gaelic. Even if you weren't fluent in French, it's much easier to pick up a basic knowledge of the language due to the widespread availability of French culture (indeed, your degree is an example of this ) and proliferation of instruction available.

Obviously a lot more information and hands on teaching is available for Gaelic in Ireland itself, but that's not much use if you're in the US

Do schools in USA get a holiday for Easter, and is it as short as your Christmas/New Year holidays?

Well, Easter always falls on a Sunday, and the kids are always off on Sundays anyway, so that's kind of moot . Christmas/New Year (if I recall correctly...it's been a long time since I was in school) stretched from just before Christmas on up to New Year's day...almost, if not exactly two weeks. It's the longest time period allotted to students after summer vacation.

I've heard the terms "burr" and "brogue" when someone is describing Irish and Scottish accents...which is which? I can tell the two accents apart (for the most part) although I can't articulate the reasons why. Maybe it's the Irish in me .

My college system gives breaks as follows:

Winter Term: First Monday after New Year's Day - Week of St. Patrick's Day.
Spring Break: St. Patrick's Day - Last Monday of March
Spring Term: Last Monday of March - Second Week of June
Summer Break: Second Week of June - Third Wednesday of September
Autumn Term: Third Wednesday of September - Second Week of December
Christmas Break: Second Week of December - First Monday after New Years.

What fun!

Also, how hard would it be to learn Gaelic, since I am American (French just about killed me)?

I'm learning Irish and let me tell you... it's probably one of the most difficult languages to learn. It's very fun (for me) but very, very hard. The sad thing is that it's not very useful...

Going a few posts back, someone mentioned a book on Australian slang where the author was called 'Afferbeck Lauder'. I was just wondering what it is actually meant to read as, because I've been wondering for hours. Also, no one I know really speaks with that type of slang, nothing like that at all.

So does Pippin represent a real Scottish accent? Because I think it was Billy Boyd's real accent.

Do schools in USA get a holiday for Easter, and is it as short as your Christmas/New Year holidays?

Well, Easter always falls on a Sunday, and the kids are always off on Sundays anyway, so that's kind of moot . Christmas/New Year (if I recall correctly...it's been a long time since I was in school) stretched from just before Christmas on up to New Year's day...almost, if not exactly two weeks. It's the longest time period allotted to students after summer vacation.

Because Easter falls on a Sunday we always get Monday off as well, plus Good Friday as well. And Easter Sunday is the only other day besides Christmas day when everything stops completely here. In the old days when I was at school we had three term school years, with a short week's break in May and the Easter holiday kept separate. In those days we used to get an extra day off school on Easter Tuesday which was the last day of the Royal Easter Show, Children's day at the show.

There are a few areas in Ireland where Gaelic is still the first language (called Gaeltachts areas) but generally English is prominent and most people aren't fluent in Gaelic. Even if you weren't fluent in French, it's much easier to pick up a basic knowledge of the language due to the widespread availability of French culture (indeed, your degree is an example of this ) and proliferation of instruction available.

I'd imagine that in Ireland there would be all sorts of associations and clubs which would support someone wanting to learn Irish, and that even in the USA you'd be able to access similar organisations. I've also been to Mull and to other places in Scotland where Scottish Gaelic is spoken, but where everyone still speaks English. Yet, the street signs are in both languages, the ferry public announcements were in both Gaelic and English and I've heard that the dogs there on the farms only answer to Gaelic commands.

I agree I could similarly contact the Alliance Française, if I wanted to practise French, which I studied because it and Latin were the only languages on offer when I was at school. However, where I live, French speakers are rare. You'd be better off learning Mandarin or Cantonese Chinese, Vietnamese, or Arabic if you wanted to learn another language. Plenty of speakers around to practise on, you see.

Really the only reason I want to learn Gaelic is for the pure fun. I am part Irish and I have always heard it is a beautiful, lyrical language. By that same lot I want to learn Cherokee.
Anyone here speak that (or any other Native American language)? I know they ae not used much except on the reserves and in families but it is part of our history; we should keep it alive.
I always thought it would be fun to bring back dead and dying languages anyway (like Latin ).

^^ I know a few words of Unangaan (the Alaskan Aleut language which is technically a Native American language). It's not widely known at all and only a handful of people speak it well.

I'd like to learn Spanish. Living here (if I was planning to live here for the rest of my life, which I'm not), I'd like to learn Tagalog. There is a large Filipino community here so I'd love to learn it. I'd also love to learn it so I can eavesdrop. While I'm checking out at the grocery store, the Filipino cashiers are always jabbering away to each other and I'd love to know what they were talking about and whether they were talking about me!!

narnian_at_heart, while it'd be cool to hear what people say in other languages in front of you, that might not be the best thing... one time my dad heard this one (mid teen) girl say to her mom that she had to pee badly, but the mom wouldn't let her because they had to get somewhere in a hurry and i guess the girl kept complaining how bad she had to pee, but they didn't know that my dad was listening in

I speak pig latin

narnian_at_heart, while it'd be cool to hear what people say in other languages in front of you, that might not be the best thing...

That always happens to my Grandma and I at the nail salon! We always want to know what those ladies are saying!

Ok I have a Question for anyone who lives in Europe!

The last time I went to Slovakia most people did not have dishwashers or dryers or garbage disposals. Is it like that any where else or do most people have that now?

The last time I went to Slovakia most people did not have dishwashers or dryers or garbage disposals.

I live in Ohio, and I still don't have a garbage disposal. The other two we do have at my house. . . so we're not completely "backwoodsy"

My family doesn't have a dishwasher, we all take turns. We usually hang our clothes out on a clothes-line to dry and we dispose of our garbage in a bin -either recyclable, rubbish or compost. (Australia)