Yes, in Britain a "public school" is a highly exclusive and expensive private school; government-funded schools are called "state schools".

oh, I didnt know that, how interesting in Russia government-funded schools called "state schools" too

To make it more confusing, not every county does this - so the county I grew up in called private schools private schools, but I have to remember to call them 'public' schools now I live in Oxfordshire and refer to what we called a 'public' school as a 'state' school. But that's Buckinghamshire for you, it's also one of the few places that still has an '11+' exam, which is taken before secondary school and decides if you go to a 'grammar' school - a state school but more academically inclined, or a 'non-passing' school, which is a regular state school. Obviously testing kids at the age of 10 and taking that as a basis as to what quality of education they deserve is rather controversial, which is why it's dying out.

I am a Halloween Scrooge (a coworker kindly coined the term for me) but I love Guy Fawkes night, I've had my yearly turn of nearly scalding myself with a sparkler and getting rained on during the fireworks.

And no, we don't get that day off work either. The only holidays that we get off work automatically are New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the first Monday in May, the last Monday in May, the last Monday in August, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

You lucky thing, I work in retail and the only days we automatically get off are Christmas Day and Easter Sunday, everything else is fair game. I think those are the only days we're legally obliged to have off. And I have been told off by customers for having the audacity to be closed on Christmas.

Guy Fawkes night has always kind of confused me, to be honest. I guess I can understand the tossing of Fawkes effigies onto a bonfire, but why?

I am assuming people "carry on" about Halloween in the uk like some do in Australia( Mainly bogans and old people). They complain about it being American etc. Which is not completely...... people just find any excuse to complain honestly. They don't have to participate if they don't want to.

I hardly know what guy fawkes night is.....

shantith- Ha they really like to confuse people. David Mitchell( the autobiography I was reading) lived in oxford. So that makes sense.

I like how this guy does the scale of the different Australian accents( well according to class). People really do tend to do the yeah but nah thing( I personally don't).

I might as well list The Australian list of public holiday's( It slightly differs between states):

Yes, indeed, the list of Australian public holidays 'slightly differs between states.' Queensland has a holiday in May which none of the other Eastern states seem to have, whilst Victoria has a day off work for Melbourne Cup. (BTW, the winner this year was Fiorente, an Irish horse, followed by Red Cadeaux and Mount Athos in third place). I didn't know that Western Australia had its own dedicated holiday to celebrate WA. NSW holidays include:

1 Jan - New Years' Day
26 Jan (Mon 27 Jan) - Australia Day
18 April -Good Friday)
21 April - Easter Monday
25 April - ANZAC Day
10 June - Queen's birthday
7 October - Labour Day
25 December - Christmas Day
26 December (Mon 28 Dec) - Boxing Day.

Shops are shut entirely for Christmas Day and Easter Sunday but are open on other days, at least partly, especially in the Sydney CBD where they have the New Year sales.

The banks close down on the first Monday in August but the rest of us have to keep working, just the same. Occasions we mark but do not have an accompanying holiday include St Patrick's Day 17th March, and Remembrance Day 11 November. Being multicultural, we are acquainted with religious festivals such as Eid ut Fitr and Diwali. When I was young, back in 1956 & 1957, we used to get a half-holiday on Empire Day (24th May) which was the anniversary of Queen Victoria's birthday, and which we celebrated with fireworks.

As for Hallowe'en, it's nothing like as big a deal in Britain as it is in the States, though it is becoming more popular.... When I was a kid in the Seventies, hardly anyone paid much attention to it. For one thing, it's too close to Guy Fawkes' night, November 5th, which is our main night for fireworks during the year in the UK. And no, we don't get that day off work either.

I think north of Hadrian's Wall, that Halloween might have more impact. The Scottish Gaelic for November is An t-Samhain, the old Celtic festival of the dead which evolved into Halloween.

December 31st/January 1st--New Years (largest holiday in Russia, it's just HUGE and so over done )
January 7th--Christmas

January 7th would be the Orthodox Christmas day, wouldn't it? Not only in Russia, but also in Greece, and elsewhere.

Guy Fawkes night has always kind of confused me, to be honest. I guess I can understand the tossing of Fawkes effigies onto a bonfire, but why?

I expect you have heard of the "villainous" Plantagenet king, Richard III, whose skeleton was found in a Leicester car park last year. His Tudor grand nephew, the famous Henry VIII, was responsible for England breaking away from the Catholic church in 1533 so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, the mother of Elizabeth I. Elizabeth I established the Church of England as England's state religion to reconcile differences between Catholics and Protestants, and to unite the country against the Catholic Philip II of Spain. But there were many plots subsequently, such as the Catholic Babington plot, involving the exiled Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, the granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister, Margaret. Mary's Protestant son was James I & VII of England & Scotland, who succeeded Elizabeth as King of England, and who commissioned the KJV translation of the Bible.

Guy Fawkes was part of a Catholic plot to assassinate this King James I (VII) by blowing up the House of Lords when he went to open Parliament, in Westminster Palace, now the British Houses of Parliament. However, there was a delay in resuming parliament until 5th November that year, 1604, due to the plague, so the Gunpowder Plot was timed for then.

Guy Fawkes was the conspirator who was guarding the gunpowder the previous night, and he was caught, questioned and tortured. He was to be put to death when he jumped from the scaffold and broke his neck. According to the linked article, "Fawkes became synonymous with the Gunpowder Plot, the failure of which has been commemorated in England since 5 November 1605. His effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, commonly accompanied by a firework display." I keep wondering what happened to the other conspirators, such as Robert Catesby, their leader.

I've heard of the rhyme "Remember, remember the 5th November", and, along with NZ & Canada, we share the same democratic Parliamentary system as UK. But, otherwise, Guy Fawkes has little meaning outside of UK. Nowadays we see fireworks on New Year's Day, professionally staged on Sydney Harbour Bridge and lit up and down the harbour. We used to have fireworks on the June public holiday, but that, too, has to be done by authorised professionals. We have had too many accidents with fireworks, unfortunately.

Thanks for explaining the guy Fawkes day Wagga.

@Wagga Western Australia needs to be celebrated for its efforts of providing money to the rest of Australia.

I was wondering if In The USA do any states get picked on nd joked about often?. In Australia it is Tasmania( Which is where I am from) and I have to cringe and roll my eyes at the over used jokes about it. I only mention I am from Tasmania now if it is necessary or if I am around people who won't tease me.

People from other countries to not realize that Tasmania is part of Australia. This can be fun however when I had someone believe I was Tasmanian rather than Australian for over a year.

I was wondering if In The USA do any states get picked on nd joked about often?

I honestly can't speak for too many places, but I think universally the average American will occasionally have a little fun at the expense of your Southeastern states. A lot of that is the classic Southern drawl and the perception that they're not smart in some part because of it. It's not really right, but 150 years of post-Civil War habit is hard to overturn in a day. Washington and Oregon on the west coast have a bit of a reputation for being inhabited by hippies and computer geniuses. It's very beautiful there though and the only downside is the near constant rain. And there's a bit of occasionally mockery between the denizens of cities and those that live in the country, what some folks call "flyover states", because no one goes near them except when they're flying over them in passenger jets.

It sounds like Tasmania is your Hawaii.

Is Canberra still the Capital of Australia? Most folks here assume it's Sydney because it's the biggest.

@IlF: You're welcome about Guy Fawkes!

@Wagga Western Australia needs to be celebrated for its efforts of providing money to the rest of Australia.

@IlF Yes, currently Western Australia does supply a lot of Australia's income due, not only to the mining boom, but also the impressive viticulture, and other agricultural endeavours around Margaret River way, not just the final absence of some "well-known business identities".

But, and it is a big but, for many years it was Victoria and New South Wales subsidising the rest of Australia, including prosperous Queensland, until about 2007. And, small though it is, South Australia doesn't do too badly, either, thanks to the world-famous Barossa Valley, the Tourist industry, and ports like Whyalla. While NSW, in particular, remained a Labour state, we reaped little or no benefits from it being the Prime Minister's home state.

Western Sydney, that is to say, at least half, or more, of Sydney, is still currently waging its own war to get its fair share of even the state government's attention. Although Western Sydney, alone, is the third largest economy in Australia, it suffers a lot of snobbism from older parts of Sydney, closer to the CBD. Including the Premier's own electorate. Not to mention that people in those areas seem to equate the term "Westie" with IlF's term, "Bogan".

Is Canberra still the Capital of Australia? Most folks here assume it's Sydney because it's the biggest.

Yes, Canberra is the capital of Australia, having been built for that purpose, being equidistant from Sydney, in NSW, and Melbourne, in Victoria, which, in 1901, was the largest city in Australia. From Federation in 1901 to the opening of the then new Federal Parliament in Canberra, in 9/5/1927 (9th May), the Victorian State Parliament in Melbourne deputised as our national Parliament, and, until 1913, at least, much to the glee of Victorians, Melbourne was the original capital of Australia, as well as of Victoria.

Like your Washington DC, (?) Canberra has its own territory of Australian Capital Territory, which has been carved out of NSW, and it was an American, Walter Burley Griffin, who designed this city. The artificial lake, in front of our new Parliament House, opened in 1988 on Capital Hill, is called Lake Burley Griffin, in honour of his work. Here is a link if you would like to know a bit more about Canberra, also nicknamed The Bush capital.

When Australia was first discovered by the Dutch, it was called Niew Holland, but in 1770, when Captain Cook explored the east side, he named it New South Wales. Australia Day celebrates the founding of Sydney on 26th January 1788, and for much of its history, well after Federation, Sydney was the founding city of Australia, with all other Eastern colonies being carved out of the NSW jurisdiction during the Nineteenth century. Though Sydney, as the original Australian city, did have a claim to be the nation's capital, it was overtaken in population and importance by Melbourne, in the late Nineteenth Century, due to the Victorian gold rushes at Ballarat and Bendigo, and it also didn't hurt that Melbourne was named after Queen Victoria's favourite UK prime minister. Thus, although Sydney still remains the capital of the state of New South Wales, it has never been the capital of the Commonwealth of Australia. (And, of course, I am a Sydneyite, born & bred ).

It sounds like Tasmania is your Hawaii.

I wouldn't say so. Yes, the native people were as different from the mainland Aborigines as the original inhabitants of Hawaii were different from your Amerindians. But, as far as I know - and please correct me if I am wrong - Hawaii was an independent country under its own Queen, and was also under British jurisdiction for a while, before it became part of the United States, - before 7/12/1941, when Pearl Harbour was bombed?

Whereas Tasmania was the location for the second penal colony to be formed in Australia, the first being Botany Bay (Sydney). Under its original name of Van Dieman's Land, it was a horrendously isolated & brutal place to live, where the native population were decimated by early settlers, who, in turn, were sometimes speared and killed. Once transportation of convicts stopped in 1853, Van Dieman's Land, eventually the main destination for such prisoners, was free to become its own state in 1856, and to change its name to Tasmania. I guess the locals, - and my own family history is still part of it - would far rather be called 'Taswegians' than 'Vandemonians'.

And I'm sure that IlF would far rather be be called a 'Sandgroper' (WA), a 'Crow-eater' (SA), or a 'Banana-bender' (Qld) than either a 'Mexican' (Victorian) or a 'Cockroach' (NSW). I can think of good reasons why all states in Australia get picked on one way or another, sooner or later.

And I have a question: Is Washington DC a state of America as well as the West Coast State called Washington? And do people in the USA have such moderately rude names applied to them?

Here is an urban dictionary definition of a bogan:

Australian term used to describe members of society that are a combination of what the Yanks call Rednecks, Jocks and Trailer Park Trash. most likely found wearing mockies, flanalette shirts and consuming VB (bad Aussie beer). Large amount of bogans can be found living in The Borough, Bendigo, Aust....... may I add bunbury.

I guess that each state gets teased by another. Western Australian happen to like teasing Tasmania.

On another note when I visited new york with my father some people couldn't understand what he was saying. They thought he was saying orange juice when he was asking for coffee* It was so funny) and I don't think dad could understand this one particular guy. So I had to be the translator for both of them. It was hilarious because they were both speaking English.

Is Washington DC a state of America as well as the West Coast State called Washington?

I believe DC is analogous to your Australian Capital Territory - it's not a state but a special administrative area (federal district) that houses the capital. Unlike the states it has no representation in either house of Congress, which has been a matter of some debate over the years (it does have a non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives).

Incidentally, Washington state was originally referred to as Columbia (after the river which forms some of its southern boundary) but the name was changed to prevent confusion with the District of Columbia.

And do people in the USA have such moderately rude names applied to them?

Not as specifically as those you've listed for the Australian states, to my knowledge. There may be some similar terms (like the occasional reference to Northerners as Yankees by those in the Old South), but I think most names used are more generic (like urban vs rural people, the coasts vs flyover country, etc).

Trivia note: While 'Yankee' can be used in other parts of the world to refer to Americans in general, in this part of the US (north central), the term isn't used except to refer to a certain baseball team that is named after New York.

In Russia, we have this tradition that on someone's birthday, you pull the ears of the birthday person the number of years he is turning plus one for the upcoming year. For example, if he/she is turning 20, you pull their ears 21 times, 20 because he turned 20 and then one more time for next year. I was just wondering if it is done anywhere else in the world or is it purly a Russian/Ukrainian thing

@wild rose: No, I've not heard of that particular sort of birthday celebration beforehand. I'm not sure I'd want my ears pulled 67 times next January. We do (playfully & affectionately) pinch and punch each other on the first day of the month, though, reciting the rhyme, A pinch and a punch for the first day of the month, with a rider that 'you can't pay back 'til the end'. I usually say 'rabbits, rabbits, rabbits' for good luck, though I don't know why, since, in Australia, rabbits are regarded as pests and anything but good luck.

I believe DC is analogous to your Australian Capital Territory - it's not a state but a special administrative area (federal district) that houses the capital. Unlike the states it has no representation in either house of Congress, which has been a matter of some debate over the years (it does have a non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives).

Hmm! Now that is a bit different from our own ACT (I do love the irony of that acronym. ) Just as you have a star for each of your states on the Stars & Stripes banner, Australia has the Federation Star on its national flag, just below the Union Jack, and to the left of the Southern Cross. This seven-pointed star represents the six states and the seventh point represents the two territories of ACT and Northern Territory, which isn't large enough yet to be considered a state in its own right.

ACT has its own Territory government and it is also its own electorate in the Federal Parliament. It is a requirement and a duty for every Australian citizen registered to vote to do so in Federal and State elections, and if they fail to vote they can be fined.

A further question about Washington DC, how did you come by this arrangement? Was it due to intercity rivalry, such as between Sydney and Melbourne? Or was it something already established in your original constitution? BTW, I remember thinking at one stage of my life that New York was the capital of America, until informed otherwise, and though the naming of the city of Washington is quite self-explanatory, I have been a little curious about its arrangements ever since.

And about accents: I've heard that in the USA, an Aussie movie, maybe Crocodile Dundee (?), had to be subtitled for American audiences. Does anyone know about this?

New York was originally the capital, but then the Brits kind of took it over, so the Continental Congress retreated and stuck it in Philadelphia, but then the Brits kind of took that over, so they withdrew to some podunk town someplace in Pennsylvania until the Brits decided to leave. I've never honestly looked into why they put DC where it is...it was apparently a real stinker of a swamp at one time so they cleared it out and planted the capital there. I have read that Thomas Jefferson had a lot to do with the layout of the place and there's one legend that he told some road workers to lay out a street wherever he walked...except he was heavily under the influence of drink at the time and the street ended up as crooked as a dog's hind leg. Beautiful place to visit and loaded with touristy sites and museum goodness. If you step 10 feet outside of the Mall though you're like as not to get mugged at gunpoint, so I'm told. And it's apparently very dangerous to walk around there after dark. So I'm told.

I don't know of anyone who has difficulty understanding Australian accents. I've seen several movies where native Scottish is spoken and a lot of them had subtitles. Dittos for hardcore cockney English-speak. Five minutes of that makes me wonder whether Dick Van Dyke's accent in Mary Poppins would have been more realistic had he spoken in a guttural, indecipherable train wreck of consonants and vowels.

In Russia, we have this tradition that on someone's birthday, you pull the ears of the birthday person the number of years he is turning plus one for the upcoming year. For example, if he/she is turning 20, you pull their ears 21 times, 20 because he turned 20 and then one more time for next year. I was just wondering if it is done anywhere else in the world or is it purly a Russian/Ukrainian thing

I've never heard of pinching, but when you're a child here, you often get birthday spankings. If you turn six, somebody close to you (usually a parent or a grandparent) will give you six light, gentle smacks on the bum This is usually something that is only done in very young children. . . although it is fun to threaten older people with it

I've never had trouble with an Australian accent either. . . Impersonating it is another story altogether

I've not heard of subtitled Crocodile Dundee either. In fact, when I was a kid an Aussie lived across the street from us for a brief time and we all thought his accent was wonderful to listen to.

Dittoing Dig's remarks on birthday spankings for small kids or older people. I've not seen it actually done for many years. An added thing I've heard, after the spanking, is "and a pinch to grow an inch."

Thanks for the additional info on the ACT. More on Washington, DC: Congress created the federal district in July 1790. Originally it was a square 10 miles on a side with land taken from Maryland and Virginia. Originally the city was Washington and the federal district was called Columbia, a name referring to the US at the time. The land donated by Virginia was returned to that state shortly before the Civil War, resulting in the District's current shape.

Thank you, Shadowlander, Digs & stargazer, for the info on Washington DC, which is famous for the White House, the Pentagon and, I expect, for Congress. Interesting that both Maryland and Virginia had to contribute land to its founding! I take it that Maryland and Virginia were named after England's Queen Mary I, and that Virginia was named after Elizabeth I, her Tudor half-sister, often referred to as the Virgin Queen? But who is Georgia named for? Surely not the country in the Caucasus?

BTW, Shadowlander & IlF, I found this Royal Central article on their blog, which explains Guy Fawkes Night much better than the Wikipedia article I linked to, previously. I thought the events were in 1604, but they happened a year later, in 1605.

I've not heard of subtitled Crocodile Dundee either. In fact, when I was a kid an Aussie lived across the street from us for a brief time and we all thought his accent was wonderful to listen to.

My father used to say that the way people spoke in Australia was out of a need to keep their mouths shut as much as possible so that the blowflies can't get in. But I think a lot of blokes talked the way they did, out of the side of their mouths, because they were trying to talk with a pipe or cigarette still firmly clenched on the other side of their mouths.

New Zealanders, who really hate to be confused with us, usually give vowel sounds a different value, so that they might say they bought "sex tuns of beer with their fush and chups", which is saying they would have bought six tins of beer with their fish and chips.

A bit of trivia: The roof of our current Federal Parliament, which is built into Capital Hill, rather than on it, has to be mowed regularly.