The Inbetweeners - Some UK to Yank translations?

[Hail Ants]

As I've often said everything I've learned about The King's English has been from Britcoms (Python, Fawlty, Young Ones etc.) I recently started watching The Inbetweeners on BBC America and its pretty good. I can't believe the language you can get away with in the UK for a show specifically aimed at teenagers!

Anyway, besides the accents being so thick that I sometimes have to turn on Closed Captioning I've come across some British slang that I've never heard and want to clarify if I'm right:

Grass = A Rat Fink (i.e. tattletale)
Bent = Gay
Ton = 100 MPH
Clunge Mag = Porn Mag

If I'm correct any explanation as to their origins?!

[Baron Greenback]

You are correct, although bent can also mean "corrupt" eg a bent copper. I've no idea about origins.

[Fake Tales of San Francisco]

A ton is not 100MPH, it's an out of date unit of measure for weight. It's roughly 1000kg I think. As slang it is used to describe a large amount of something, and can be used in phrases such as 'love you tons'.

[Baron Greenback]

A ton is not 100MPH, it's an out of date unit of measure for weight. It's roughly 1000kg I think. As slang it is used to describe a large amount of something, and can be used in phrases such as 'love you tons'.

"I was doing a ton on the motorway". Is this now totally obsolete?

[Mr. Kobayashi]

You're right on most of 'em, but I've never heard 'ton' to mean 100 mph. I'd just say it was slang for 'a lot'. What was the context?

As for origins; 'bent' is obvious - the opposite of straight.
This (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/grass-up.html) site give the origins for 'grass' meaning an informant.
'Clunge' is a slang term for the vagina, so 'clunge mag' - an explicit magazine.

[Fake Tales of San Francisco]

"I was doing a ton on the motorway". Is this now totally obsolete?

It means you were doing high speeds. As the poster above says, it means 'a lot'. I've never known it to refer to a specific speed, but wikipedia tells me it can mean '100' of something. So it can be £100, or 100 litres or whatever (and 100 MPH). But I have never heard that (Yorkshire born and bred).

[Tapioca Dextrin]

When it refers to velocity, a ton is indeed 100mph (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ton-up).

[Oswald Bastable]

But I have never heard that (Yorkshire born and bred).

With a screenname like that you must be from Rotherham...

Anyway, as a southerner I can attest that a 'ton' when referring to speed does indeed mean doing a 100mph.

OB

[Walker in Eternity]

With a screenname like that you must be from Rotherham...

Anyway, as a southerner I can attest that a 'ton' when referring to speed does indeed mean doing a 100mph.

OB

Also true in the midlands.

[Fake Tales of San Francisco]

OK, I can concede that I've been walking around unaware of some meaning behind it, and it's entirely possible I've never heard it used in that context, but that isn't how it is mostly used, is it? In my experience it's usually used to simply mean a lot. "I bought a ton of milk, because my kids go through cereal like nobodies business", "You'll have to do tons of work to be able to afford that!" Though most often I hear it when someone picks something very heavy. "It weighs a ton". I'm fairly certain they're not guessing a specific weight that the item might actually be.

Similar to how 'heaps' is used in Australia.

[Lo-Slung Denim]

Yeah, a ton means 100mph. Some folk say a ton for a hundred quid too. It's common where I am(London) and where I grew up (East Anglia).

As for grass, there's loads of claims to its origin, mostly rhyming slang. Grass in the park - nark. Grasshopper - copper. I don't know for sure although I've mostly heard it in the criminal sense, i.e. being grassed up the police, rather than to teacher or parents.

I hadn't heard the word clunge before this show, not sure about that - I'm certainly not going to google it as I am at work! I assumed it was a new word as I am only 27 and if this word had been around when I was at school 10-15 years ago, it was the type of school where I would have heard it.

And excellent taste by the way, OP :) The Inbetweeners is some of the funniest comedy from the UK in years. I've sometimes laughed so hard at that show it's been difficult to breathe.

[China Guy]

Wouldn't "The Inbetweeners - Some UK to Septic translations?" be more appropriate as a title?

[Ximenean]

"Clunge" actually means female genitalia.

[WotNot]

OK, I can concede that I've been walking around unaware of some meaning behind it, and it's entirely possible I've never heard it used in that context, but that isn't how it is mostly used, is it? In my experience it's usually used to simply mean a lot. "I bought a ton of milk, because my kids go through cereal like nobodies business", "You'll have to do tons of work to be able to afford that!" Though most often I hear it when someone picks something very heavy. "It weighs a ton". I'm fairly certain they're not guessing a specific weight that the item might actually be.

Similar to how 'heaps' is used in Australia.

No, you're right: “ton” meaning 100mph is just one specific usage, separate from the more common “lots” meaning. And one you could quite easily miss, I suppose, unless you hang around with people who habitually exceed the speed limit.

I must say, in fact, that it seems a bit dated to me – I sort of associate it with greasy bikers in the late fifties/early sixties. There's a definite whiff of coffee shops and transport caffs about it: a heady mix of motor oil, Brylcreem, Woodbines, espresso, bacon fat and Spam.

Or that might be just me.

[Candyman74]

Anyway, besides the accents being so thick that I sometimes have to turn on Closed Captioning

Heh, welcome to my experiences trying to watch Glee! :D

[Zoinks]

I hadn't heard the word clunge before this show, not sure about that - I'm certainly not going to google it as I am at work! I assumed it was a new word as I am only 27 and if this word had been around when I was at school 10-15 years ago, it was the type of school where I would have heard it.

How odd, I could swear I've heard or read the word somewhere before and I'm Canadian, though I thought it was spelled "klunge".

Heh, welcome to my experiences trying to watch Glee! :D

Out of curiosity, where are you from and which characters' accents are you having trouble understanding?

[Hail Ants]

Ok, if clunge means vagina what does minge (sp) mean? Or don't I want to know...

I wouldn't say that Ton is an obsolete measurement, unless you consider the whole Imperial System obsolete. Which it kinda is, but as an arrogant American I say My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!

Also in regards to The Inbetweeners: Sigh, the British school system always confuses the hell out of me! A levels, O levels?!? In the US its grades K thru 12, simple! So I gather from the intro that the star kid used to go to private school, but now he has to go to... What exactly? Because the school in the show doesn't look like a public school, uniforms and such!

[Rrose Selavy]

minge is basically the same
or refers to female public hair.

[t-bonham@scc.net]

but as an arrogant American I say My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!likes it?
That's about 1/504th of a mile per gallon -- or about 10 feet (3 meters) to a gallon! What kind of a car are you driving? Even an aircraft carrier gets 4-5 times that mielage!

[Candyman74]

Out of curiosity, where are you from and which characters' accents are you having trouble understanding?

Most particularly, the red-headed teacher who was also in Heroes. Never managed to figure out a single word she said. I gather she likes the lead teacher guy?

[Springtime for Spacers]

Ok, if clunge means vagina what does minge (sp) mean? Or don't I want to know...

I wouldn't say that Ton is an obsolete measurement, unless you consider the whole Imperial System obsolete. Which it kinda is, but as an arrogant American I say My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!

Also in regards to The Inbetweeners: Sigh, the British school system always confuses the hell out of me! A levels, O levels?!? In the US its grades K thru 12, simple! So I gather from the intro that the star kid used to go to private school, but now he has to go to... What exactly? Because the school in the show doesn't look like a public school, uniforms and such!

He goes to a state school, as in funded by the state or what you guys confusingly call a public school :) More particularly it's a comprehensive, as in there is no selection for ability and neither a faith school (self explanatory I hope) or a school for special educational needs. The majority of kids in the UK go to that kind of school.

The age grading in British schools was traditionally split between primary school ages 5 to 11 and secondary school ages 11 to 18. We said form rather than grade and the count began again when kids entered secondary school. (There was a short phase of having middle schools which I never got). So primary school had forms first through fifth and secondary first through sixth. But wait! That only adds up to eleven. That's because sixth form is divided into lower and upper sixth, there is no seventh. Oh and some schools only go up to fifth form and then the kids have the option of college (which is not the same thing as your college). And after all that I have to tell you that kids today tend to say they are in Years One to Twelve.

Exams: O levels are mostly taken in fifth form (Year 10) they are subject specific (French, Biology, English Literature etc). In my day kids were put in for between eight and eleven of these. Brighter kids might take two or three a year early. The grading system has been rejigged quite a bit over the years and I'm not au fait with recent developments but essentially there are passes and fails. Job specifications may include requirements for a certain number of O levels or certain subjects ie Maths and English.

A levels are, among other things, the entry requirement for university courses as well as somewhat better jobs. The courses are typically two years and the work more intensive. Sixth formers or college pupils might be put in for one to four with perhaps an extra O level or two thrown in so there's quite a narrowing of subject range. Grading is similar to O levels.

Oh and "a ton" in speed terms always meant 100 mph in my southern neck of the woods, usaully heard as "doing a ton".

[Candyman74]

Also in regards to The Inbetweeners: Sigh, the British school system always confuses the hell out of me! A levels, O levels?!? In the US its grades K thru 12, simple! So I gather from the intro that the star kid used to go to private school, but now he has to go to... What exactly? Because the school in the show doesn't look like a public school, uniforms and such!

O Levels? I can't imagine they mentioned them in The Inbetweeners; I certainly don't remember any reference to them. It's not set in the 1970s. You must've heard that from somewhere else.

Anyway, they're not grades. I'm not sure why your'e comparing UK examinations to US years; no wonder your'e having trouble comparing them. They're like your SATS (I never knew what they were - not a request for elucidation, BTW!). If you're thinking they're year grades, I can't say I'm suprised as to your confusion.

Our year grades are much more complicated than the US. Rather than K-12, we go 1-11. 1 being the first year at school. 11 being the last year at school. With a 1-grade-1-year ratio. Scary complicated! I can see why it's difficult! :D

And most schools here have uniforms. Nothing to do with being private or not.

[Candyman74]

Oh, and a "ton" means £100 or 100mph. It's not desperately uncommon, but may vary in usage across the UK. The common factor is the "100" bit.

"Clunge" I've never heard. Maybe the kids use it these days. I'm 35.

"Grass" is an informer; Americans would use "you dirty rat!"

"Bent" is both gay and corrupt, depending on context. A ent copper is a corrupt policeman. A bent teacher is a gay teacher (although probably not gay - it's used as an insult).

[Ximenean]

I think the matter of "O-levels" needs some clarification: they are an old form of educational qualification for students of school-leaving age, replaced some years ago by GCSE. You get a separate grade for each subject that you study, with some subjects being compulsory. It used to be that there were two tiers of qualifications-- General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (GCE O-level), graded A to E, and Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE), which was aimed at less able students (I think graded numerically, but I never took a CSE). As a rule of thumb, a C-grade O-level was considered roughly equivalent to a top grade CSE.

That system was combined some years ago into GCSE. After GCSE, students may choose to do "A-levels" (A for Advanced), which are structured in much the same way that they always have been except they're much easier these days, mutter, grumble. To get into a university you typically need three or four good A-levels in relevant subjects.

[Baron Greenback]

I think the matter of "O-levels" needs some clarification: they are an old form of educational qualification for students of school-leaving age, replaced some years ago by GCSE. You get a separate grade for each subject that you study, with some subjects being compulsory. It used to be that there were two tiers of qualifications-- General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (GCE O-level), graded A to E, and Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE), which was aimed at less able students (I think graded numerically, but I never took a CSE). As a rule of thumb, a C-grade O-level was considered roughly equivalent to a top grade CSE.

That system was combined some years ago into GCSE. After GCSE, students may choose to do "A-levels" (A for Advanced), which are structured in much the same way that they always have been except they're much easier these days, mutter, grumble. To get into a university you typically need three or four good A-levels in relevant subjects.

Because Britain is a complicated place, none of this applies in Scotland.

ETA although there's analogous things

[An Gadaí]

I've heard ton for £/€100. :)

[Springtime for Spacers]

I think the matter of "O-levels" needs some clarification: they are an old form of educational qualification for students of school-leaving age, replaced some years ago by GCSE. You get a separate grade for each subject that you study, with some subjects being compulsory. It used to be that there were two tiers of qualifications-- General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (GCE O-level), graded A to E, and Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE), which was aimed at less able students (I think graded numerically, but I never took a CSE). As a rule of thumb, a C-grade O-level was considered roughly equivalent to a top grade CSE.

That system was combined some years ago into GCSE. After GCSE, students may choose to do "A-levels" (A for Advanced), which are structured in much the same way that they always have been except they're much easier these days, mutter, grumble. To get into a university you typically need three or four good A-levels in relevant subjects.

I'm showing my age -- I quite forgot that O levels had been replaced!

[In Winnipeg]

Interesting...now can someone explain "bampot"? Apparently, it's an insult of some sort.

[Dewey Finn]

but as an arrogant American I say My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!
likes it?
That's about 1/504th of a mile per gallon -- or about 10 feet (3 meters) to a gallon! What kind of a car are you driving? Even an aircraft carrier gets 4-5 times that mielage!
Not sure if that's a whoosh, but I believe that Hail Ants was quoting The Simpsons.
Oh and some schools only go up to fifth form and then the kids have the option of college (which is not the same thing as your college). And after all that I have to tell you that kids today tend to say they are in Years One to Twelve.
One note about this very good explanation. I believe that this sort of college (to replace sixth form, or for 16-18 year old kids) is the sort of school that the characters in Skins were attending.

[Candyman74]

Interesting...now can someone explain "bampot"? Apparently, it's an insult of some sort.

Nope, never heard of it! But then, as I said earlier, I'm 35 so I doubt I'm in tune with how the kiddies speak.

[MikeG]

A ton also means 100 points in a darts game like cricket. e.g. three triple 20's would be called ton 80.

[WotNot]

Interesting...now can someone explain "bampot"? Apparently, it's an insult of some sort.

A bampot, or (more often, I think) barmpot is a stupid, daft or crazy person. There's a fuller definition here. (http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/bampot/)

[In Winnipeg]

Thanks, WotNot...now I don't have to look so perplexed when the Scottish guy two houses down says it!

[Baron Greenback]

Thanks, WotNot...now I don't have to look so perplexed when the Scottish guy two houses down says it!

I'm fairly sure that "bampot" is a mostly Scottish description. Think Begbie in Trainspotting - he was a bampot. There's definitely an element of unfocussed violence in the term.

[John Mace]

"Grass" is an informer; Americans would use "you dirty rat!"

Rat, stollie (stool pigeon), or narc. The last one isn't always in reference to drugs.

[kevlaw]

No, you're right: “ton” meaning 100mph is just one specific usage, separate from the more common “lots” meaning. And one you could quite easily miss, I suppose, unless you hang around with people who habitually exceed the speed limit.

I must say, in fact, that it seems a bit dated to me – I sort of associate it with greasy bikers in the late fifties/early sixties. There's a definite whiff of coffee shops and transport caffs about it: a heady mix of motor oil, Brylcreem, Woodbines, espresso, bacon fat and Spam.

My dad smoked woodbines in transport caffs in the late fifties (still does in fact). He always used 'a ton' to mean 100 of anything but especially money, darts and motorway speeds.

Quite a few numbers - usually for money - had special words for every day use (jacks, dollar, pony, score, ton, gross).

The old man's preferred word for lady parts was minge; mine is clunge.

I first heard the word 'clunge' from a comedian on telly (this was about 1992) who was seeing if he could make up words that sounded dirty without actually meaning anything. He ran around the stage saying "up your clunge! up your clunge!'. It was very shocking!

I believe that Jon Stewart's "rusty trombone" and "dirty sanchez" have similar etymology.

[Pushkin]

I must say, in fact, that it seems a bit dated to me – I sort of associate it with greasy bikers in the late fifties/early sixties. There's a definite whiff of coffee shops and transport caffs about it: a heady mix of motor oil, Brylcreem, Woodbines, espresso, bacon fat and Spam.

Or that might be just me.

I had thought that the 60s association was from the time when "doing the ton" was actually legal, the 70 mph speed limit on the UK's motorways being introduced in the late 60s IIRC.

And of course, doing the ton was something special back then, not something that everyone could squeeze out of their Japanese hatchback on a slight downward slope.

[Springtime for Spacers]

Not sure if that's a whoosh, but I believe that Hail Ants was quoting The Simpsons.

One note about this very good explanation. I believe that this sort of college (to replace sixth form, or for 16-18 year old kids) is the sort of school that the characters in Skins were attending.

That's right, colleges like that tend to offer vocational courses as well as A levels.

[amarone]

I think the matter of "O-levels" needs some clarification: they are an old form of educational qualification for students of school-leaving age, replaced some years ago by GCSE. You get a separate grade for each subject that you study, with some subjects being compulsory. It used to be that there were two tiers of qualifications-- General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (GCE O-level), graded A to EO-levels were originally graded 1 - 6 pass and 7-9 fail. Quite why they needed three failing grades is beyond me. I took all my O-levels but one in 1973 & 1974 and they were graded on the 1-9 scale. In 1975 they changed the grading to A-E as pass and U as a fail. A - C corresponded to the original 1 - 6. D and E became passes but most people regarded them as failing grades at the time - that may have changed since.

and Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE), which was aimed at less able students (I think graded numerically, but I never took a CSE). Correct (and neither did I).

[Springtime for Spacers]

O-levels were originally graded 1 - 6 pass and 7-9 fail. Quite why they needed three failing grades is beyond me. I took all my O-levels but one in 1973 & 1974 and they were graded on the 1-9 scale. In 1975 they changed the grading to A-E as pass and U as a fail. A - C corresponded to the original 1 - 6. D and E became passes but most people regarded them as failing grades at the time - that may have changed since.

Correct (and neither did I).

I took one O level in 1974 and got a C grade (passes were A to E) I think it must have varied by examination board (for those outside of the UK these are sort of regional). I was pissed off when they reclassified the grades as it made my C grades look crap and my E look like a fail .

[penultima thule]

[Ronnie Corbett]
In breaking news, police report that an elephant did a ton on the M1.

A police spokesman said that motorists should take drive slowly and treat it as a roundabout.
[/Ronnie Corbett]

[Hail Ants]

To clarify, I didn't hear 'O Level' on The Inbetweeners but on The Young Ones. I just threw it in at the end. In the intro to Inbetweeners I believe he says he's now going to a comprehensive which was a term I didn't understand.

The age grading in British schools was traditionally split between primary school ages 5 to 11 and secondary school ages 11 to 18. We said form rather than grade and the count began again when kids entered secondary school. (There was a short phase of having middle schools which I never got). So primary school had forms first through fifth and secondary first through sixth. But wait! That only adds up to eleven. That's because sixth form is divided into lower and upper sixth, there is no seventh. Oh and some schools only go up to fifth form and then the kids have the option of college (which is not the same thing as your college). And after all that I have to tell you that kids today tend to say they are in Years One to Twelve.Ma' puzzler hurts! :confused: ----- Actually I do understand, its just so much more confusing than K-12!

A couple posts mention jobs. Do UK employers actually require specific primary school (not college) records when you apply? Because in America, other than asking if you have or don't have a High School diploma, nobody ever asks anything more about non-college education.

And in The Inbetweeners, did the main kid with the glasses (haven't seen enough to remember names yet) actually have sex with that hot blond girl in a previous episode? What was the deal with that?

And the Hogshead line was a Grampa Simpson quote.

[Mr. Kobayashi]

To clarify, I didn't hear 'O Level' on The Inbetweeners but on The Young Ones. I just threw it in at the end. In the intro to Inbetweeners I believe he sayst

Ma' puzzler hurts! :confused: ----- Actually I do understand, its just so much more confusing than K-12!

A couple posts mention jobs. Do UK employers actually require specific primary school (not college) records when you apply? Because in America, other than asking if you have or don't have a High School diploma, nobody ever asks anything more about non-college education.
A comprehensive is just a state school, as opposed to what Yanks would call a private school which he previously attended. To make matters more confusing we usually call private schools 'public schools'. As for employers, it's usually just GCSEs (from secondary school), A-Levels (from sixth form/colleges) and any higher education (from universities).

And in The Inbetweeners, did the main kid with the glasses (haven't seen enough to remember names yet) actually have sex with that hot blond girl in a previous episode? What was the deal with that?
No, he messed it up by failing to... find the main event, so blondie figured out that he'd been bullshitting about his previous experience.

[Hail Ants]

To make matters more confusing we usually call private schools 'public schools'.

Um, ok. Why on Earth do you do that?!?

[Mr. Kobayashi]

Um, ok. Why on Earth do you do that?!?

I might be way off, but I think it's to do with the Public Schools Act of 1868 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Schools_Act_1868) which defined these types of schools in law. Why they called the act this in the first place I've no idea.

[WotNot]

I might be way off, but I think it's to do with the Public Schools Act of 1868 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Schools_Act_1868) which defined these types of schools in law. Why they called the act this in the first place I've no idea.

They called the act that because that's what the schools were already called, and had been since the middle ages. “Public” in this sense means that they're open for the public to attend (these days for a fee) rather than restricted to a particular family or trade.

[Ximenean]

I think it's slightly misleading to say that "we usually call private schools 'public schools'". Privately-funded schools are usually called, well, private schools, or independent schools. 'Public school' is a vague term which refers to a number of old, prestigious independent schools, traditionally often boys-only boarding schools, although this is changing. As you may imagine, these schools charge very high fees and you have to be pretty well-off to send your kids to one.
To this day, many prominent people in British life are the products of 'public' schools. Tony Blair, for example, attended Fettes College in Scotland. And if you go back a few decades, half the British cabinet seemed to be ex-Etonians or Harrovians or whatever. Well, if you look at Tory cabinets, although there were always a few posh people on the Labour side too.

[Dewey Finn]

They called the act that because that's what the schools were already called, and had been since the middle ages. “Public” in this sense means that they're open for the public to attend (these days for a fee) rather than restricted to a particular family or trade.
I thought the term public school was meant to differentiate from being educated privately at home with a tutor, which is what was common way back when (at least among the wealthy who could afford a private tutor).

[grimpixie]

A ton also means 100 points in a darts game like cricket. e.g. three triple 20's would be called ton 80.In real Cricket too, a ton is used to describe 100 runs (more commonly called a century)...

[Fake Tales of San Francisco]

Regarding my confusing over ton for 100 mph, I have quite often heard it used as a verb (it only just clicked the other day). I often hear "he was really tonning it down the road".

A couple posts mention jobs. Do UK employers actually require specific primary school (not college) records when you apply? Because in America, other than asking if you have or don't have a High School diploma, nobody ever asks anything more about non-college education.

We don't call education before college 'primary'.

From 11 years old to 15 years old you do secondary education (high school) which ends in your GCSE's (only the last two years is specifically geared towards the GCSE's though). You'll do up to around 8-10 GCSE's, though you can do less or more depending on how well you're doing. These count towards getting into college, which you attend at 16-17. You normally do 4 AS Levels at college, then probably drop 1 subject and focus on 3 A Levels (AS is basically 'half an A Level' an utterly pointless new certificate in my opinion). You generally need Math and English GCSE's to get into college, though they often let you sit those subjects again whilst you're there if you failed them at high school.

The A levels you do at college then set you up for University. Employers will generally only look at the highest education you did. If you have A Levels then it is implied that you have GCSE's so they most likely won't want to check up on those.

[aerodave]

I know I'm a little late to the party (and I may have missed another USian who pointed it out already)...

But here in the US, we do have the "ton" = "a lot" usage, as well. A couple of the posts from our British members in this thread have made it seem like they presume that we a) don't know what the standard definition of a ton is, and b) have no knowledge of its slang usage, meaning "a whole bunch".

Rest assured, the ton as a unit of weight (2000 lbs) is still alive and well here, as that's how we rate the carrying capacity of our pickup trucks, as well as the gross vehicle weight of our larger, commercial trucks. "To weigh a ton" is still slang for anything that is very heavy, and if you need an even larger colloquial measurement, there's always the "shit-ton", or in extreme cases, the "metric shit-ton".

And in other slang usage, we are plenty familiar with the use of "ton" or "tons" to mean "a lot". "Love you tons" would not be a weird, foreign expression to American ears.

As for the use of "ton" to mean 100, that's only familiar to me from watching darts on TV in the past. And since that's a special case, I'm not sure I would have picked up on that line from The Inbetweeners. But in most other possible uses of the word "ton", it's a standard feature of American English.

("Ton" is also one of those words that the more you see it written out, or the more you say it to yourself, the stranger it gets...)

[Kal]

Yeah, but in British English the spelling is normally tonne and tonnes.

[aerodave]

Yeah, but in British English the spelling is normally tonne and tonnes.

I don't know...the people holding up the signs in the crowd at the televised darts tournaments definitely spelled it "ton". And I'd bet dollars to doughnuts (pounds to scones?) that those fans were all very British.

[Ximenean]

"Tonne" means 1000kg, very close to the 2240 lbs of the British ton. But the North American ton is only 2000lbs.

[In Winnipeg]

But here in the US, we do have the "ton" = "a lot" usage, as well.

Canada too, as in "I've got a ton of work to do," or "I've got tons of pennies in a jar at home."

[amarone]

From 11 years old to 15 years old you do secondary education (high school) which ends in your GCSE's (only the last two years is specifically geared towards the GCSE's though). You'll do up to around 8-10 GCSE's, though you can do less or more depending on how well you're doing. These count towards getting into college, which you attend at 16-17. Are you not a year out on these? It always used to be 11 - 16, at which point you do GCSEs, then 16 - 18 for A levels. I suppose a few people who are young for their school year (i.e. birthday July/August) would fit your age range.

[amarone]

I took one O level in 1974 and got a C grade (passes were A to E) I think it must have varied by examination board. That's plausible; I was JMB.

[Maserschmidt]

So the old Rocker gets out his bike
to make a ton before he takes his leave.
Up on the A1 by Scotch Corner
just like it used to be.
And as he flies --- tears in his eyes ---
his wind-whipped words echo the final take
and he hits the trunk road doing around 120
with no room left to brake.

First and only time I'd heard that one....

[elbows]

JMB ?????

[Charley]

?????

It's an exam board, as referenced by amarone and Springtime for Spacers, the Joint Matriculation Board. The boards control their curricula and exams, with the result that pupils taking nominally the same qualification in the same year would study and sit very different papers. They used to be geographically limited IIRC, but that doesn't seem to be the case now.

Wikipedia has more than you'll ever need to know (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Examination_boards_in_the_United_Kingdom) if you're curious.

[Ximenean]

It's an exam board, as referenced by amarone and Springtime for Spacers, the Joint Matriculation Board. The boards control their curricula and exams, with the result that pupils taking nominally the same qualification in the same year would study and sit very different papers. They used to be geographically limited IIRC, but that doesn't seem to be the case now.

Wikipedia has more than you'll ever need to know (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Examination_boards_in_the_United_Kingdom) if you're curious.
One thing that that Wikipedia article doesn't seem to mention is that some regional examination boards had reputations for tougher courses than others. I remember when I received my A-levels (most JMB, one AEB), JMB and certain other boards were considered the gold standard, while AEB definitely wasn't.

[Rrose Selavy]

Yeah, but in British English the spelling is normally tonne and tonnes.

No, That's for the metric tonne - the slang referred to derived from the old Imperial ton - so ton would stilll be the correct spelling.

[Springtime for Spacers]

I'm fairly sure that "bampot" is a mostly Scottish description. Think Begbie in Trainspotting - he was a bampot. There's definitely an element of unfocussed violence in the term.

It's a Yorkshire thing too and it can be affectionate as much as insulting, like daft or silly. I was round a mate's house today being made a huge fuss of by her cat John Boy and she called him a barmpot.

[Springtime for Spacers]

I've been thinking a bit more about primary schools and think it's worth mentioning that back in the day they were also divided into infants (up to 8) and juniors (8 - 11). There's also nursery school for the under fives, these are often part of primary schools too.