This isn’t really a GQ because there aren’t any specific, factual answers, so…
I’m writing a story set in early 90s London. While neither of these points are highly crucial to the plot, I hate writing stuff that is so unrealistic that people who know better would roll their eyes and find the rest of the story diminished because of my gaff. So, I ask:
[ul][li] Where in London would one be most likely to find a public school that’s not really posh but where the parents of the students would have pretentions toward poshness while, in actuality, the mums are Sloanes and the dads work boring office jobs in law or publishing or something?[/li][li]Remembering the early-90s time frame, how realistic is it that boys in such a school might taunt a new boy at school who has just moved from Ireland (based upon his Irishness, not his newness at school)?[/li][li]If they did taunt him, what might they say?[/li][li]Same two questions, but substitute a boy from India. (Not Indian-in-the-UK but freshly arrived from the subcontinent.)[/li][li]Last, but not least, what’s Putney like?[/ul][/li]
Anyone who provides me with useful information will get a thanks (in the name they so desire) in the acknowledgements of the book. If it ends up being published one day in the weird future, I’ll send ya a copy!
Firstly in England “public schools” are expensive private schools. Schools run by the governement are called “state schools”. The situation you describe would be ideal for Putney or Wimbledon.
The Irish thing is VERY likely - any difference would be picked up, and nationality is one of them. In england we have a tradition of “irish” jokes similar to the US “polack” jokes, and any teasing would probably be around that. epithets for the irish include “mick” “paddy” “bog trotter” “bog-wog”. None of these are very nice.
The Indian boy would get the same treatment with more overt racism - “paki” is the, very offensive, catch all insult (and would be particularly confusing for a boy from India who would probably have a very low view of pakistan)
I live very close to Putney - which is an upmarket suburn of SW London - predominently white, very expensive houses, mainly full of ex-public school boys (see above) inc your’s truly. It’s full of bars and restaurants. What specifically did you want to know?
I knew that “public schools” are private schools in the UK (the opposite of the US) but locations were just what I needed. Putney. Heh, I’m gonna end up setting my story in Putney. I had a feeling. Excellent.
Okay. Poor Aidan. (That’s my Irish kid.)
Yeah, I figured that would be, but I wasn’t sure if that was a more lower-class sort of thing.
Just what you said. I read that a celebrity of interest to me lives there, but I wasn’t sure if that was true or if the interviewer who mentioned it was taking the piss by saying so, as if it were a downmarket kind of place where someone of his wealth and fame would never drive through, let alone live.
Thank you kindly, owlstretchingtime. How shall I refer to you in my acknowledgements? (“And many thanks for background information to “owlstretchingtime” of the Straight Dope Message Board.”?)
But Putney is south of the River, no one would be seen dead there;)
Seriously Bog Trotter, and Bog Wog are too old fashioned to be used by London Kids in the 1990’s. Paddy and Mick are more likely. There may be room to introduce tension with the IRA bombing of London in 1993. [BBC News.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/ stories/april/24/newsid_2523000/2523345.stm ) Especially if the kid has nationalistic Irish upbringing.
Paddy and Mick not old-fashioned? They’re hardly even insults. Bog-Trotter sounds to me the most likely, particularly with a middle-class context. Bippy the Beardless is quite right, however, that such a kid would face astonishingly ignorant and moronic ‘IRA’ taunts. (Chelsea football club, from the part of town we’ve been talking about, have a long-standing deserved reputation for racist thugs as part of their fanbase, including viciously anti-Irish behaviour at times.)
As for the location, I’d have suggested somewhere like Clapham - desirable purely because of its proximity to truly-fashionable (ie prohibitively expensive) neighbourhoods. (Although Clapham in particular may be too recent a development for the early 90s.)
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For the Indian kid - race in a public school environment is a whole different kettle of fish. There’s a whole different set of stereotypes and prejudices that he’d face, compared to going to his local state school. Somebody else with better knowledge can elaborate, though
I’ve taught in a public school for 15 years.
Points as they occur to me:
Be careful to use a made-up name - avoid legal wrangles.
You are more likely to get bullying in an all-boy school, perhaps quite small (say 200 - 400 pupils). It could be run by an old-fashioned disciplinary couple and be hard up for money. N.B. they would charge high fees.
We have quite a few boarding schools here (where the kids stay at school except for holidays). This is especially convenient for people working abroad (e.g. diplomats, military, foreign companies) In London, it’s more likely to be a mix of boarding and day pupils.
This gives you a chance to emphasise the difference between those who see their families daily and those who don’t.
There’s also Wimbledon College which is traditional “public” school (at the risk of getting you totally confused not all independent schools would call themselves “public schools” there are only few schools that are “public schools”; Eton, Winchester; Harrow and so on - the rest would call themselves “independent”)
This is a modern site about putney that is for the yoof of the town…It might give you some ideas.
I think I’m quite well set. That site for the yoof was quite informative in its own interesting way. (And mentioned the celebrity I had heard lived in Putney – somewhere near Barnes – and now I know where his wife shops.)
(“And many thanks for background information to “owlstretchingtime” of the Straight Dope Message Board.”?)