Why do British people say ‘maths’ instead of math?
Yeah! Is there more than one? Why not “histories”? Or “biologies”?
I went to summer camp most years when I was a kid. I went to a few different camps, and they were always one week long. There are longer camps, but they tend to be more expensive. I went to music camp for five years in a row, through junior high and high school. Going to camp was certainly not uncommon, but I wouldn’t say that the majority of kids went. I think it was more common in elementary school and junior high. Once kids get to high school, they often work during the summer and don’t want to take time off to go tramping around in the woods.
I think it might be more common for ethnic minorities to send their kids to camp, though. It seems like EVERY Jewish person I’ve met went to Jewish summer camp, and my coworker is Latvian-American, and she was sent to Latvian summer camp as a kid (where some kids were instructed not to talk to her, because her dad wasn’t Latvian!).
I have been to camp twice in my life. The first time, I was the only person there who wasn’t Catholic! I don’t have anything against Catholics, of course not. It was just odd. They were passing around this notebook, and you were to write what school you attended. I ran down the list, reading people’s schools. EVERYBODY went to something like “Holy Name Catholic School” or “The Trinity Catholic Church”! It was freaking scary! I wrote down my school, which was “_________ Junior High” and then passed it back. The girl behind me stared at my name, looks up and says, “What religion are you?” “Lutheran,” I answered. She looked shocked. Nobody talked to me after that. 
As for the whole fish and chips thing. When someone asks me what my favorite food is, and I say “Calamari,” they all look quite puzzled and say, “What’s that?” They don’t even know what tofu is! I say I’ve had crab legs and they’re all like, “Eewww, how could you eat that? Does it come raw?”
Come on.
Fish and chips? At my school? Here? Please insert my username here!!
IThinkNot writes:
> Fish and chips? At my school? Here? Please insert my username
> here!!
Yeah, but fish and chips is not a dish like calimari, tofu, or crab legs. Those last three items are seldom served in American cafeterias that I’ve noticed. I have seen fish and chips served in cafeterias a lot.
Furthermore, I’m confused as to what your food experiences are like. You say that you’ve tried calimari, tofu, and crab legs, which are at least somewhat exotic items. And yet you haven’t tried fish and chips, which aren’t that rare in the U.S. At least, I presume you haven’t tried fish and chips, since you weren’t even sure whether the chips are like what we Americans call “potato chips” (thin and crisp) or more like French fries.
Because it is an abbreviation of ‘mathematics’.
So, why do Americans say ‘math’ instead of maths?
I’ve been to camp 2 times in my life, at an Episcopal camp outside of Houston when I was 9 and 10. You stayed there for a week with about 100 (give or take 25) other kids and it was alot of fun. It was open to anyone in southeast Texas which took some pressure off if you got homesick or had to go home early. I know of several camps that open to kids from multiple states, which sounds like a bad situation for younger kids. My guess is that almost every kid in America goes to some sort of camp at least once in their life. Some kids love it and become counselors once they’re too old for camp, others (like my little brother) absolutely loathe it.
I think we call math math to separate ourselves from Britain. Just a guess, though.
The same reason we don’t have bioy, lite and chemy classes: the abbreviations refer only to the first syllable of the word, not the first syllable and the last letter. If we tacked on the last letter too Critl Lite class would have been a mouthful to say 
Back to chips…they’re sort of like steakfries, right? Thickly cut pieces of potato that are then doused in an oil bath. Best. Fries. Ever. Too bad I hate fish.
As for camps, judging from the numbers we saw with the traveling children’s lit program, I’d guess that many (at least 20-30%) of kids go to day camps/recreation programs while in elementary school. They’re a fairly affordable alternative to daycare for kids who are school-age but not old enough to be alone. OTOH “sleep-away” camps- those ones in the movies- I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who has gone to one that wasn’t part of scouts; not even the rich kids went to them when I was growing up.
Easy. Because it is an abbreviation of ‘maths’.
Because we don’t like hissing like snakes. mathssssss