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Schools or Universities/Colleges?

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  1. #11

    I've lived and worked in the UK and went to SCHOOL at one of their "universities" and I find myself slowly being driven insane by UK English. The worst is when an American starts doing a Madonna. Had a colleague from OHIO state that a client had "thrown a wobbly."

    "Whilst!"

    "Maths!"

    I take great pride fighting a determined rearguard action against "whilst." What are you, a 19th-century Cockney bootblack?

    "Please guvna, hold me brush WHILST I gets in me chimbney, I does."
    \

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  2. #12

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    In American English you can use the term "school" for anything up to and including university. They are just different levels of schools. My university consisted of several colleges and schools, including the School of Medicine, School of Education, etc.

    In British English school always means primary/secondary.

    In HK people pick up different English influences depending on what school they attend, where their parents are from or studied, etc so being pedantic about this on Geoexpat is kind of obnoxious.


  3. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by merchantms:
    In American English you can use the term "school" for anything up to and including university. They are just different levels of schools. My university consisted of several colleges and schools, including the School of Medicine, School of Education, etc.

    In British English school always means primary/secondary.

    In HK people pick up different English influences depending on what school they attend, where their parents are from or studied, etc so being pedantic about this on Geoexpat is kind of obnoxious.
    It is not really being pedantic. More confusion caused by language difference. In the thread that this discussion came from the OP said their boyfriend was on their way to school which to the Brits on here meant the boyfriend was young - a schoolchild.

    Neither usage is right or wrong just different. Non Brits telling Brits what they say in the UK is weird though.

  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by hullexile:
    It is not really being pedantic. More confusion caused by language difference. In the thread that this discussion came from the OP said their boyfriend was on their way to school which to the Brits on here meant the boyfriend was young - a schoolchild.

    Neither usage is right or wrong just different. Non Brits telling Brits what they say in the UK is weird though.
    It's obvious in context - do you think there is any secondary school in HK with a 23 year old student? Obviously it's a post-secondary institution. Sorry I don't believe anyone is so thick to misunderstand this.

    I lived in the UK 10 years and it drove me crazy that people would act like they can't understand Americanisms when if they thought about it for 5 seconds they'd understand. It's snobbery. For example, pointing at dark red vegetable saying "beets." Response "WHAT?! WHICH ONE? BEETS? WHAT IS THAT?"
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  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by merchantms:
    It's obvious in context - do you think there is any secondary school in HK with a 23 year old student? Obviously it's a post-secondary institution. Sorry I don't believe anyone is so thick to misunderstand this.

    I lived in the UK 10 years and it drove me crazy that people would act like they can't understand Americanisms when if they thought about it for 5 seconds they'd understand. It's snobbery. For example, pointing at dark red vegetable saying "beets." Response "WHAT?! WHICH ONE? BEETS? WHAT IS THAT?"
    Um we didn't know he was 23 until afterwards, which is why I asked his age to check my understanding. Calm down. Do Americans never make fun of UK English, of course they do.

  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by hullexile:
    Um we didn't know he was 23 until afterwards, which is why I asked his age to check my understanding. Calm down. Do Americans never make fun of UK English, of course they do.
    The comment that leads this thread is the original one from @emx where he responds to the guy's age being 23 with "so he was going to university not school"

  7. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by merchantms:
    The comment that leads this thread is the original one from @emx where he responds to the guy's age being 23 with "so he was going to university not school"
    And this thread is some of the posts lifted from another thread. It therefore misses out some of the earlier posts. Not just language that confuses then

    [My favourite is an Australian friend saying to me he went into a posh bar and was surprised to see all the men wearing "thongs". Not a nice image if you are a Brit.]
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  8. #18

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    if the case the OP who mention this aspect of describing school as university, while it's an education insitute, in British English, University are not really descibed as schools, however, the chinese name convention (which the japanese borrow/follow) for describing education institutes via their levels is 大學 (university),中學 (secondary), 小學 (primary), 幼稚園 (nursery), so if the case that the OP is a chinese speaker, it's possible they were factually incorrect if they using the chinese naming convention and translated to english, then it's a honesy mistake.

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  9. #19

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    Original Post Deleted
    No the fact he was 23 appeared later.

    Chastising? No Brits should not tell others what to say, except in jest and that works both ways. Australians never take the piss out of poms? Of course they do and that is great.

    It was an honest confusion in different terminology, no idea why people are getting so worked up. Should I get upset when I hear an American refer to a fanny bag? No but I will snigger. Should Americans get upset when I ask for a fag? No but they will laugh. Enjoy and celebrate the differences.
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  10. #20

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    Original Post Deleted
    in france, you don't have quarter pounder name in macdonalds as they don't use imperial units, apparant called 'cheese royale', similarly, quarter pounder is HK macdonalds is called ' full three taels" ( 足三両 / juk sam leung ) in chinese as full three taels weight wise is similar to quarter of a pound.

    every place has different naming conventions