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Canada
1. General Presentation
2. Language
French is mostly sp 858i85i oken in
Several aboriginal
languages have official status in
3. Culture
Due to its colonial past,
Canadian culture has historically been heavily influenced by the English, French, Irish, and Scottish,
in addition to the previously extant First Nations cultures and traditions. Over
time Canadian culture has been greatly influenced by American culture, due its
proximity and the interchange of human capital. Many forms of American media
and entertainment are popular if not dominant in
The creation and preservation of more distinctly Canadian culture has been partly influenced by federal government programs, laws and institutions such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the National Film Board of Canada, and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Canadian culture has also been greatly influenced by more recent immigration of people from all over the world. Many Canadians value multiculturalism, indeed some see Canadian culture as being inherently multicultural. Multicultural heritage is enshrined in Section 27 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
National symbology is influenced by natural, historical, and First Nations sources. Particularly, the use of the maple leaf as a Canadian symbol dates back to the early 18th century and is depicted on its current and previous flags, the penny, and on the coat of arms. Other prominent symbols include the beaver, Canada goose, common loon, the Crown, and the RCMP.
4. Holidays
A statutory holiday, also
known as "general" or "public" holiday, in
Statutory and major holidays in Canada include New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day, Christmas, and Boxing Day. Each
5. History Outlook
The complete history of neither Canada nor the United States can be studied without reference to the history of the other. The earliest discovery of the New World was made by Norse seafarers, the Vikings. The accounts of their travels are drawn from their sagas - epic stories in prose or verse handed down by word of mouth through many generations. In AD 985 Norse seamen sailing from Iceland to Greenland were blown far westward off their course and sighted the coast of what must have been Labrador. In AD 1000 Leif Ericson became the first European to land in North America. According to the sagas, this was the first of many Norse voyages to the eastern shores of the continent. He settled the first colony in what the Vikings described as Vinland, identified in 1963 as being on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland. But the Greenland colony died out during the 14th and 15th centuries, and the Norse adventures in Canada came to an end well before that time.
In 1497 the Italian John Cabot sailed west from Bristol, England, intent on finding a new trade route to the Orient for his patron, King Henry VII of England and he rediscovered the eastern shores of Canada. Cabot was as confident as Columbus that he had found a new seaway to Asia. His voyages gave England a claim by right of discovery to an indefinite area of eastern North America. Of more immediate significance were the explorer's reports of immensely rich fishing waters. After 1497 the fishing vessels cruised into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and encountered Indians along the shores who were willing to part with valuable furs in exchange for articles of little worth such as beads and other trinkets.
In 1524 King Francis I of France sent a Florentine navigator, Giovanni da Verrazano, on a voyage of reconnaissance overseas. Verrazano gave France too some claim to the continent by right of discovery. Ten years later Francis I dispatched another expedition under Jacques Cartier who sailed a route that was for the most part already already well known. Its immediate result was a thorough report for the French king about the lands he had visited and the new names he gave to the coasts on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He also observed near Anticosti Island the mouth of a great river. Pressing upstream in three small vessels, next year, he reached an Indian village of Stadacona, near the present site of the city of Quebec and another one on the site of the present city of Montreal. In 1541 Cartier established a new headquarters at Cap-Rouge,and he was followed by Jean Francois de la Rocque, sieur de Roberva.
In 1598 Troilus de Mesgouez, marquis de la Roche, set out for Canada and established a royal monopoly of exclusive right of furs trade. Strong peronalities like Pierre Chauvin, Pierre du Guast, sieur de Monts, Samuel de Champlain extended the French settlements on the new Found Land: Quebec. The New France continued to grow slowly. The fur trade served both to keep alive an interest in the territory and at the same time to discourage the development of agriculture. The most distant outpost for many years became Montreal, founded by Paul de Chomedy, sieur de Maisonneuve, on May 18, 1642 that was a part of a large Canadian missionary movement which was based by France. The work and self-sacrifice of the Christian missionaries in the young colony and in the wilds that lay beyond it is one of the most stirring chapters in the history of New France. During the 40 years following the founding of Quebec, a dozen mission posts were built in the Huron country south of Georgian Bay. But the Iroquois tribes became a great obstacle: many accounts of heroism on the part of soldiers, settlers, and missionaries during this long guerrilla warfare on the outskirts of the colony are known.
The feudal system of landholding, which had long been established in France, was also adopted in the colony. The seigneurs, were granted lands and titles by the king in return for their oath of loyalty and promise to support him in time of war. The seigneur in turn granted rights to work farm plots on his land to his vassals, or habitants. In exchange, the habitants were required to pay certain feudal dues each year, to work for the seigneur for a given number of days annually, and to have their grain ground in the seigneurial mill. The senior official was the governor, appointed by the king, who felt more responsible to the king in France than to the people he governed.
In 1672 Count Louis de Frontenac arrived in the colony as governor He built a fort at Cataraqui, near present-day Kingston, and Francois Xavier de Laval-Montmorency was raised to the rank of bishop.
La Salle's exploration of the Mississippi to its mouth in 1682 gave France a claim to a vast area bordering the American Colonies from the Great Lakes and the Ohio River valley southward to the Gulf of Mexico. England came to realize that the easiest riches of the New World were to be found in furs rather than in gold. Thus it was quick to follow up its claim to the back-door route to the fur country by founding the Hudson's Bay Company in 167. But for many years England's domination of Hudson Bay was threatened by the French. In 1686 Pierre Troyes and Pierre le Moyne, sieur d'Ibervilleed succeeded in capturing a number of the company forts by surprise. A fresh struggle between France and England, known as Queen Anne's War broke out in 1702 and led to the capture of Port Royal by the English in 1710. The Treaty of Utrecht, which reestablished peace in 1713, required France to surrender the Hudson Bay Territory, Newfoundland, and Acadia. France was permitted to keep Cape Breton Island as well as her inland colonies. In 1749 the British began the construction of the city of Halifax. Canadian and European histories usually treat the final contest for the continent as beginning in 1756, with the opening of the Seven Years' War between the two motherlands in conflict. When the Treaty of Paris at last brought it to a close in 1763, the British flag waved over almost the whole of eastern North America. But led by a clever and treacherous Ottawa chieftain named Pontiac, the Indians suddenly rose against their new English masters and overthrew these forts one by one. But the only British soldiers left west of Lake Erie in Fort Detroit could finally subdue the Indian uprising, so the English Parliament passed the Quebec Act that became the first important milestone in the constitutional history of British Canada. Under its terms the boundaries of Quebec were extended as far as the Ohio River valley. The Roman Catholic church was recognized by the Quebec Act, and its right to collect tithes was confirmed. Also of enduring importance was the establishment of the French civil law to govern the relations of Canadian subjects in their business and other day-to-day relations with each other.
The huge influx of settlers, who were known in Canada and England as the United Empire Loyalists, marked the first major wave of immigration by English-speaking settlers since the days of New France. The settlement of the more inaccessible lands north and west of Lake Ontario and along the north shore of the upper St. Lawrence proceeded somewhat more slowly. In 1791 the British Parliament enacted the Constitutional Act, whereby Quebec was split into the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. Each of these was to be governed by a legislative council appointed for life and a legislative assembly elected by the people. The right to be represented in a lawmaking assembly was something new for the French-speaking inhabitants of the lower province.
As early as the 1730s a family of explorers headed by Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Verendrye, began a series of overland explorations far to the west of Lake Superior. Their travels carried them into what is now the western United States, perhaps as far as the foothills of the Rockies. They visited Lake Winnipeg, the Red River, the Assiniboine River, and the Saskatchewan River as far upstream as the fork formed by the North and the South Saskatchewan. Similarly, expeditions under Henry Kelsey, Anthony Henday, Samuel Hearne explored the territories between York Factory and northern Saskatchewan, the foothills of the Rockies, discovered Great Slave Lake and reached the Arctic Ocean by land. In 1783 a group of Montreal merchants founded the powerful North West Company. In 1789 Alexander Mackenzie followed the river which now bears his name from its source to the Arctic Ocean and Capt. George Vancouver explored the the Pacific coast by sea.
5.1. The Struggle for Self Government
The British colonies far to the east found themselves involved with the United States in a new war that threatened to end their existence under the English flag. But this battle provided an opportunity for French Canadians to fight side by side with their English-speaking countrymen to defend their newly aquired territories. The victorious outcome contributed a great deal to the growing national pride of Canadian and made them believe that they had sufficient powers to govern themselves through their elected assemblies. The period following the War of 1812 was one of expansion of population, business, and settlement. This was especially true in Upper Canada, where large numbers of newcomers were attracted by low-cost land grants. The very growth of the colony offered many opportunities for profit by those who could control the land grants.
One of the loudest accusers of the government's administration of the land grants was William Lyon Mackenzie. The leader of the radical reforms in Lower Canada was Louis Joseph Papineau. Both had finally come to the conclusion that no lasting reform could be achieved unless the bonds with Britain were severed.
Rioting occurred in Montreal in 1837 and, when the government decided to arrest Papineau, he immediately fled across the border to the United States, an open rebellion followed in several centers. Similar troubles broke out in Upper Canada almost immediately. Mackenzie prematurely called for an advance toward Toronto from his headquarters. The attack was driven back; and the city, rapidly filling with Loyalist supporters, was fully alerted. A few days later these forces marched northward against Mackenzie and, after a short skirmish, dispersed his troops. Like Papineau, Mackenzie fled across the United States border and tried to organize his planned republic under what he said of as a "provisional government of Upper Canada." The struggle for reform was more peaceful in the Maritimes. Here the leading reformers included Joseph Howe, in Nova Scotia, and Lemuel Allan Wilmot, in New Brunswick had a much clearer understanding of the principles and advantages of responsible government and they rallied widespread support.
At the request of Queen Victoria, who came to the throne in 1837, John George Lambton, earl of Durham, arrived in Quebec in the spring of 1838. His Report on the Affairs of British North America is one of the most important documents in the history of the British Empire. Durham recommended that Upper and Lower Canada be united under a single parliament. He said that if the colonies were given as much freedom to govern themselves as the people of Great Britain, they would become more loyal instead of less so. He even forecast the possibility of a union some day of all the British colonies in North America. His only serious error of judgment occurred when he said that the French-speaking Canadians might be expected to be absorbed by a growing English-speaking majority.
In 1840 the Act of Union was passed. It became effective the next year and joined Upper and Lower Canada under a central government. There was to be an appointed upper chamber, or legislative council, in the new government as well as an assembly composed of the same number of elected members from each of the two old colonies. The seat of government was established at Kingston; but after 1844 it was moved to Montreal, then back and forth between Toronto and Quebec, and finally to Ottawa in 1865.
In the first several years of this period, the principle of complete self-government and the subordination of the governor's authority to that of Parliament was developed and finally accepted. It was a critical time in the constitutional history of Canada, and the ability of the two chief Canadian nationality groups to get along with each other was tested for many years.
Each side produced great public men. Prominent were Robert Baldwin, Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine Both men joinedtheir forces and formed a strong coalition during the early years of the new government, and the result was that much legislation was carried through. Included were laws for establishing municipal governments, for founding the University of Toronto as a nonsectarian institution, and for changing the system of law courts.
In the meantime Canada was swelling with settlers, and the foundations of a British province on the west coast were being laid. A flood of newcomers began to arrive mostly from the British Isles inspite of the hardships they had to face. The trials often began in the crowded, cholera-ridden, and poorly provisioned sailing ships that brought the newcomers in vast numbers across the Atlantic. The largest tracts of land available for settlement were in Upper Canada. Until the coming of the railway, the principal method of moving heavy freight over long distances was by water. Canals in the colonies were therefore improved, and new ones were dug. Roads were cut through the bush to connect the far-flung centers of settlement with lake and river ports. On the backwoods farms great branding fires burned steadily for weeks at a time as the pioneers slowly cleared their lands. In most respects pioneer life was very similar in Canada and the United States.
The dominating importance of the fur trade was challenged in 1858 by the electrifying news that gold had been discovered on the Fraser River. There was a great need to bring law and order to the mining camps arising everywhere in the new territory. This need was met by Matthew Begbie. Many of the miners departed when the gold rush subsided. The people who stayed formed the nucleus of the later province of British Columbia.
5.2. Confederation
When the government of the Canadas under the Act of Union went running into difficulties because Canada West by this time, had increased in population faster than Canada East (the act had provided for equal representation of both parts of the colony at a time when French-speaking Canada East was numerically much larger than Canada West) the leader of the Conservatives, John A. Macdonald, and and Liberal leader George Brown made a coalition government in the best interests of the country, even though Brown had long considered Macdonald and Cartier his deadly political enemies. By fortunate coincidence, the possibility of a local union of colonies was under discussion at this very time in the Maritimes too. Macdonald, accompanied by Brown and Cartier, headed a delegation from Canada to the meeting of their Maritime cousins and set forth the possible advantages of a union wide enough to include the Canadas as well. The result was the Quebec Conference, which was held later the same year. Agreements in principle on the conditions that might permit so ambitious a union were finally reached. These agreements were summed up in the Seventy-two Resolutions.
In 1866 representatives of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Canadas came together in London for final discussions with the Colonial Office. The London Conference led directly to the most important statute in Canadian constitutional history, the British North America Act of 1867 which the written constitution of Canada for more than a century. It was proclaimed on July 1, now celebrated as Canada Day.
The British North America Act provided that there should be four provinces in the new Dominion at the outset--Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia--and that others could join later. Each province was to have its own seat of government, its own lawmaking body, and its own lieutenant governor to represent the Crown. In addition, the act established a federal government at Ottawa, composed of a House of Commons (elected), a Senate (appointed for life), and a governor-general as the Crown's representative. It set forth the matters on which the provinces could make laws and listed those that were the special concern of the government at Ottawa. Any powers not listed were to belong to the federal government. (The act remained in force until the Constitution Act of 1982.). The first Parliament of the new. The first Dominion census, which was taken in 1871 in accordance with the British North America Act, showed a population of 3,689,257. When the United States was accorded fishing rights in Canadian Atlantic waters for a limited period, among the five commissioners who represented Great Britain in these negotiations was Macdonald. His presence was a recognition of Canada's new status in the British Empire. During the same summer of 1871, British Columbia joined the new Canada Confederation. Progress on the Intercolonial Railway, which was to link the Maritimes with Quebec, encouraged Prince Edward Island in 1873 to become the seventh province in the Dominion. During Mackenzie's term as Prime minister, voting by ballot was introduced in 1874; the Supreme Court of Canada held its first sitting in 1876; and the Intercolonial Railway ran its first train from Halifax to Quebec, also in 1876.
Wilfrid Laurier's regime lasted 15 years. It was one of renewed growth and prosperity. The Manitoba School Question was promptly hushed up by new legislation enacted by the province in accordance with a compromise worked out with Ottawa. To his Cabinet Laurier drew some of the most capable leaders from every part of Canada.
Business throughout the world was on an upswing, and the Laurier government rode the crest. The demand for Canadian wheat abroad encouraged immigration, and immigration in turn increased farm production and the value of national exports. "The 20th century belongs to Canada," cried Laurier; and the whole nation took confidence from his assurance. Two new transcontinental railways were begun. By 1905 the west had expanded in both population and economic strength to such an extent that two new provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, were carved out of the Northwest Territories.
In 1896 gold nuggets were found on the Klondike River in the far western Yukon Territory. When the news spread, the gold rush of 1897 began; it was to become the most publicized gold rush in history, eventually to be celebrated in the works of such writers as Jack London and Robert Service.
Very soon after the gold rush, settlers began pouring into the western prairies of Canada by the thousands, from Europe as well as the United States. It was not long before demands arose for the creation of at least one province between Manitoba and British Columbia. Thus, in 1905, the government in Ottawa formed two new provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Another benefit resulting, at least in part, from the gold rush was the discovery of other minerals in the Canadian wilds: nickel and large deposits of base-metal ores that made Canada a mineral-rich nation with great untapped potential.
A controversial foreign policy issue arose as naval competition increased between Germany and Britain in the years before World War I. Great Britain naturally desired to receive military help from the colonies: the Canadian Navy was founded in 1910 with the provision that in time of war it be placed under British command.
5.3. Canada and World War I
Germany's invasion of neutral Belgium in 1914 forged a unity of Canadian sentiment and a demand for participation in the conflict. The first Canadian contingent, numbering 33,000, reached England soon after the outbreak of war in 1914. By 1916 the Canadians had four divisions of the Canada Corps that earned an outstanding reputation as a fighting force. More significant, however, was the fact that Canada was playing a respectable role on the world stage, a role that would soon help undo its colonial status. On the battlefronts in France and Belgium, Canadians of both nationality backgrounds made magnificent contributions to the final victory.
From economic point of view, before the war ended in 1918 the gross national debt soared from 544 million dollars in 1914 to almost 2 1/2 billion dollars in 1919, most of the money being raised in Canada itself through public war loans. The 1920s were marked everywhere by a spiraling expansion of business. Technical and industrial advances paced the rising standard of living. But in the summer of 1929 industrial production began to slow significantly. In October of that year the stock market crash heralded unemployment and financial ruin across Canada, as it did elsewhere in the world.
5.4. The British Commonwealth of Nations
The period between the wars brought the culmination of Canada's growth to independent nationhood within the British Commonwealth. Prime Minister Borden had been included in the Imperial War Cabinet in London. He piloted through the Imperial Conference of 1917 a resolution that the dominions "should be recognized as autonomous nations of an imperial commonwealth." To both the 1919 Peace Conference and the League of Nations Canada sent its own delegates. The Imperial Conference of 1926 confirmed in its Declaration of Equality that the United Kingdom as well as the dominions had become "autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another." They were, however, "united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations." These resolutions were confirmed by the British Parliament in 1931 in the Statute of Westminster. The statute provided that "no law passed in the future by the United Kingdom should extend to any dominion "except at the request and with the consent of that Dominion." Canadian sovereignty thus had been achieved by a long process of peaceful constitutional evolution. This was vividly demonstrated by the independent decision of its Parliament that Canada enter World War II at the side of Britain, which it did within a week of the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939.
5.5. Canada and World War II
The first engagement of the enemy by Canadian forces based in England occurred in 1942 in a courageous, but terribly costly, commando-type raid against Dieppe. In the summer of 1943 Canadian troops were sent into action with the British in the successful assault against Sicily, whence they carried the campaign to the Italian mainland. But the climax of the war had come with the Normandy landings in June 1944, in which the Canadian Army played an important part which opened the final attack across the Rhine, which was a prelude to the unconditional surrender by Germany on May 9, 1945.
The losses in the war overseas were complemented by economic gains on the homefront. War productivity effectively ended the Great Depression and greatly increased the labor force. Canadian workers produced raw materials, farm products, and manufactured goods needed to fight the war; and this was all done in a volume unprecedented in Canadian history. Industrialization was thus rapidly advanced, through both investment of capital and striking advances in technology.
5.6. Postwar Developments
Canada played an active role in the United Nations from the time of the organization's inception after the war. In 1949 Newfoundland joined the Confederation as the tenth province. In the same year Canada became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The St. Lawrence Seaway was opened in 1959. It was formally dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II and President Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States. On Feb. 15, 1965, Canada raised a red and white maple-leaf flag. It was adopted by Parliament in December 1964 and was Canada's first official national flag.
The year 1967 marked the 100th anniversary of the British North America Act, which had been proclaimed on July 1, 1867, and established the basis for the modern state of Canada. A giant birthday party on Parliament Hill in Ottawa was attended by Queen Elizabeth II. A highlight of the year was the Universal and International Exhibition, known as Expo '67, held in Montreal. In 1982 the British North America Act was replaced by a new constitution for the government of Canada. Queen Elizabeth visited Parliament Hill to proclaim the document. This completed the transfer of constitutional powers from Great Britain to Canada.
5.7. Quebec Separatism
Beginning in the 1960s Quebec was the center of militant agitation to separate it from Canada and establish a French-speaking nation. In 1969 French and English were both declared the official languages of Canada. In 1970 terrorist acts by alleged separatists were climaxed by the kidnapping and murder of Quebec's minister of labor and immigration, Pierre Laporte. The federal government sent in troops and temporarily suspended civil liberties. In 1974 French became the official language of the province. Under a controversial law adopted in 1977, education in English-language schools was greatly restricted. The charter also changed English place-names and imposed French as the language of business, court judgments, laws, government regulations, and public institutions. Although the separatist party retained power, a referendum to make the province an independent country was rejected by the Quebec voters in 1980. The Quebec government opposed the 1982 constitution, which included a provision for freedom of language in education, and unsuccessfully sought a veto over constitutional change. In 1984 the Supreme Court ruled against Quebec's schooling restrictions. In 1987 the Meech Lake constitutional accord recognized Quebec as a "distinct society" and transferred extensive new powers to all the provinces. In a referendum held in October 1992 Quebec voters narrowly rejected secession from Canada in a 1995. In October 1987 Canada and the United States reached agreement on a trade pact to eliminate all bilateral tariffs over a ten-year period beginning Jan. 1, 1989. The two countries signed a Great Lakes water-quality agreement in November. Both countries agreed to track and clean up sources of pollution. In January 1988 abortion was legalized in Canada. The socialist New Democratic party chose Audrey McLaughlin - the first woman to head a major Canadian political party, and Kim Campbell became the first female prime minister in Canadian history.
Canada is one of the world's wealthiest nations, a
member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) and Group of Eight (G8). As with other first world nations,
the Canadian economy is dominated by the service industry, which employs about
three quarters of Canadians.
VII. Dictionary of English Culture
Albion: ancient
word for England in Celtic and Alb in Gaelic; it is mentioned in the Latin of
Pliny and in the Greek of Ptolemy meaning "the white land" relating
to the whiteness of the cliffs greeting travellers and suggesting pristine
purity or blankness. But the cliffs are also guardians, and Albion was the name
of the primaeval giant, elemental and emblematic giant, who made his home upon
the
Abstract expressionism: style of painting that was developed the '40ies by
Acid jazz: a mixture of soul jazz and hip hop style in dance music, popular in the 90ties;
Accent: the way a language is spoken by 1) native speakers showing the region that person comes from, what class he or she belongs to; most of the counties and big towns have a different accent
New-Castle-on-Tyne - "Geordie"
South-East of
Act of Parliament: any law that is passed through Parliament and debated in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and then approved by the King or the Queen. All of them form together statute law. The Parliament has the right to repeal a statute if it is no longer appropriate. Before being debated in the Parliament, any proposal for a new law comes to the public under the name of a private bill if it is about local councils or rights or obligations of the individuals, and public bills if they attempt to change a general law. Changes recommended by the members of the Parliament to any bill are known under the name of amendments.
Adams, Gerry: president of Sinn Fein, a political organization
campaigning for the independence of
Adult education: (continuing education): vocational courses of general interest for all
levels , usually held in the evening. They can focus also on entertainment
subjects, as yoga, or gardening or they can be training courses in a skill that
provide the attendants the ability to get a job.70% of the attendees are women.
They can include correspondence,
television, CD-ROM, Internet, or self access courses. In
Advertising: companies and social organizations promote and market
their products by ads in
Age of consent: age at which young people can legally agree to have sex. The age of
consent is 16 in
Age of discretion: age at which young people can deal with their own affairs from legal point of view.
AIDS: (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
Now is a museum.
Aldermaston: small village in
All-American: a 1. Good player in any sport who is called for a national team; 2. physical appearance of a man (adj.)
Almshouse: houses built usually in a row, provided by church or charity to old and poor people
American breakfast: the morning meal including items at choice such as: juice, cereals, eggs with ham or bacon, pancakes, toast, hash browns or grits
American eagle: the national symbol of US also called the bold eagle; it holds in his mouth e pluribus Unum (one's out of many), an arrow in it right foot, as the symbol of war and olive branch in it left foot as a symbol of peace.
Amnesty International: international organization settled in
Andy Capp: a humorous character in the British The Mirror magazine .
Anthony dollar: US dollar with the image of Susan Brownell Anthony, a teacher that was a leader of the campaign for women's right to vote.
Apache: native American group that were defended by the US Cavalry and
now live in reservations (protected areas by the government) in the states of
Apollo Program: governmental program for sending astronauts to the moon. This was achieved in 1969 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to put foot on moon.
Applejack a strong alcoholic drink made of apple
Apple pie: cake popular with American and British people expression: as American as apple pie; nothing is compared to mom and apple pie.
Aran jumper/Aran sweater: piece of clothing for women especially, knitted in thick wool
in the traditional pattern of the
Archers, The - the longest running radio soap opera. The first episode was broadcast on January 1st 1951 and went out in May 1989
Art deco: art style popular in the 20's. It uses bright colors and modern materials, such as plastic.
Art Nouveau: art style that appeared towards the end of the 19th century using the curving lines of flowers and leaves in nature. Representatives: Aubrey Beardley and Charles Ronnie Mackintosh.
Auld Reekie: name given to
Aunt Sally: 1. popular character that people throw balls at to win prizes usually at fairs
or other outdoors events. 2. Person that people laugh at.
Au pair girl: a girl coming from a foreign country, staying with wealthy families, doing some housework for meals, accommodation and a small amount of money as a wage and usually study English
B
Babbitt: a character in a novel of Sinclair Lewis who is thinks mainly to money
Bachelor's degree; first degree when graduating a university
Bacon and eggs: fried slices of bacon and fried eggs eaten for the traditional English breakfast
Bangers and mash: sausages and mashed potatoes, a typical meal for the British
B&Q: a chain
of large shops very popular in
Barber's shop: a quartet usually made of four men singing together in close harmony;
popular in
baked beans: beans cooked in a tomato sauce. They come in cans and are normally eaten on toast. The Britsh are very fond of baked beans.
Barbie doll: a doll for little girls having a wide choice of fashionable clothes.
the Bar: profession of barrister The Head of the Bar of England and
Barrister: appear before judges in High Courts and defend or prosecute cases. This
makes them different from solicitors who cannot appear in front of judges and
bring the cases to the barrister. They belong to one of the Inns of Court established in the late
thirteenth. Graduates in law must also pass
Barley wine: strong bear
Barmaid: a woman serving drinks in a pub
Barnardo's (formerly Doctor's Barnardo's) - a charity that runs homes for orphans
Baron: the fifth rank in the British peerage. Member of the House of Lords and named Lord
Baroness: wife of a baron, having the title of Lady or Baroness
Baronet: a rank between a baron and a knight. His title is Sir and his wife is a Lady
Baroque: art style
developed in
Bass: British company that produces beer
Battery Park: a park at the southern end of
The
BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation: an independent radio broadcasting paid by the British government since 1927
Beacon Hill: a fashionable district in
Beans on Toast: popular snack. Heinz the most popular brand of baked beans
Bear market: a market on which companies shares prices drop; people selling them and waiting them to rise are called bears
Beat generation: a 1950' group of artists rejecting the values of their contemporary
society., trying to find their own way. The movement began in
the Beatles: famous British pop music popular in the 60s
Beaulieu: a well known village in
Beauty and the Beast: traditional British story by which a young and beautiful lady saved a monster from a magic spell by her love. He turns into a handsome young prince and they get married.
Beaver Scout: six or eight years old boy member of the most junior branch of the Scouts
Bebop: jazz music style popular in the 40s
Bede: (the
Venerable Bede): English monk and a historian (673-735). He wrote Ecclesiastical History of the English
People. (Latin Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum) in which
"the English were God's new "chosen" nation elected to replace
the sin-stained Briton in the promised land of
Bedlam: a
popular name for St. Mary of
Bed-sit: (in
Beefeater: name given to a Yeoman Warder of the
Beef olives: British dish made of thin slices of beef wrapped in herb stuffing and baked
Bee Gees: British pop group very popular in the 70s.
Beer garden: a pub garden where people can have a sit , eat and drink a beer.
Beer tent: a tent opened at one side where drinks and food are served outdoors on entertainment events
Berni: a leading restaurant chain in
Beetle: the name given by the British to the small Volkswagen car. In US it is called a bug
Mrs. Beeton: a writer that wrote a famous book on cooking and running a household in the 19th century
Bentley: a fashionable and expensive car made by Rolls Royce Company
Beowulf: an old English poem written in the 6th century. It begins with the description of the funerals of Scyld Scefing "beaga bryttan" or the Lord of the Rings whose body is carried down to a great ship and dispatched upon the whale road and wave-domain of the sea; The grandson of Scyld Scefing, the warrior Hrothgar, builds a "heal-aern", or hall building in order to memorialize his own triumphant career. This is a place of warmth and light, of food and drink, wide gabbled and lofty. It is a wine-mansion and gold hall men. In a world of darkness, it represents human felicity. There is an Anglo-Saxon term, "seledreoing", meaning "sad for hall" (perhaps a longing for home); it is a harbinger of English melancholy. And so good fortune reined over Hrothgar's kingdom until a "feond on helle", a moor-dweller and border-wanderer, the monster Grendel, fell upon the bright hall and devoured thirty of Hrothgar's retinue. He was descended from Cain, just as Alfred the Great's line was traced to Adam himself. The seed of Cain was a "death-scua", or "mistige moras", or misty moors. The monster pursued a campaign of extirpation and carnage against Hrothgar. After twelve winters Beowulf came over the sea to assist Hrothgar. He takes up arms against Grendel, and in one desperate fight, the monster is fatally wounded. B then serves the head of Grendel's monstrous mother. At a later time he himself is delivered a fatal would by a guardian dragon. The pattern completes as it begins, with a funeral ceremony.
Leonard Bernstein: (1918-1990) an American famous musician, composer, piano player, and conductor. The most famous composition was the West Side Story.
Best: a weekly British magazine for women first published in 1987
Betty Boop: a cartoon character created by Max Fletcher in 1915
BhS: a group of shops
well known in
Big Bang: introduction of important changes in the rules of the London Stock Exchanges in 1986
Big Ben: the clock in the tower of the British Houses of Parliament
Big Brother: a character in the novel "Nineteen Eighty Four" of George Orwell that is the ruler of the state that watches people and controls everything all the time.
Big Mac: type of a hamburger made by McDonalds
Big Smoke: name given
to
Bingo: a game of chance
Birdseye: frozen food sold in American shops. The name comes from Clarence Birdseye who developed the method of freezing the food in 1920.
Bitter: a kind of bitter beer
Black bottom: a popular
dance in
black-eyed pea (AmE), cowpea, black-eyed bean (Br. E) white bean with a black spot on it eaten in America in the Southern part, on the New Year's Day because it is thought to bring good luck as a dish called hoping John
Blackpool: the most famous seaside resort in
Black Pudding: A thick sausage made with blood and fat.
Blind man's buff: a children's game in which a player's eyes are covered and he tries to catch the others
Bloody Mary: 1. a drink made of vodka, tomato juice and Worcester sauce; 2. nickname for Queen Mary who killed a lot of people for religious reasons
Bloomsbury: central place in the city of London where most of the museums and universities are placed; here is the place where the intellectuals used to meet in the early 20th century who rejected the Victorian social values: Virginia Wolf, E.M. Forester, Maynard Keynes, Lytton Strachey
Blue book: (
Blue Boy: a famous painting by Thomas Gainsborough (1779)
Blue law: a law that forbids certain activities on Sunday in US. It was originally printed on blue paper; nowadays it forbids selling alcoholic drinks on Sunday
Blue Riband: the fastest ship that crosses the
Blue rinse: blue dye used by old ladies; used for typical old-fashion conservative habits
Boadicea/Boudicca: the queen of a British tribe under the Roman ruling. She rose against the Roman soldiers and she killed herself when she was defeated.
Boarding school: a school where pupils study and live, either during the week with home visits at the weekend, or for the complete term, with holidays spent at home
Boogie /boogie-woogie: blues music played on the piano popular in the 30s
Borough: district, part of the town that has power of the local government
Boxing Day: the day after Christmas when small gifts are given to employees or servants. The name is supposed to come from the box in which charity money were collected for the poor and opened on Christmas
Bradshaw: informal name given to a book published of all the railway service in
Brat pack: group of successful artists, usually behaving badly
Bread-and-butter pudding: traditional British sweet dish made of bread and butter with raisins and sugar, baked in milk and eggs
Bread and Butter: when the British eat bread they almost always cover it with butter or margarine. It can be soaked up in the gravy or juices left on your plate.
Bread sauce: British sauce made of milk, onion, breadcrumbs and spices served with chicken or turkey
British Bread: different types of bread but most commonly is sliced white bread. This is sold in plastic packets and is not half as good as the bread which you must cut yourself.
The author of this text is English although he doesn't spend much time in Britain. If you disagree with what is written please add your own opinion or tell us about the food in your country.
Breton Woods: the place, in
The Brit Awards: ceremony that takes place every year in
Briton (ancient):
Celtic population living the
Britpop: style of pop music played in the 1990s by British groups
Broadway: famous street in
Brownie: a member of the junior branch of the Guides for girls between 7 and 11. Joining the group, led by a woman called Brown Owl, the little girls meet together, play and learn how to do useful things.
Bubblegum: type of pop music made for children. The name comes from the bubbles made of chewing gum popular with the children
Bubbles: a famous painting of Millais made in 1886 representing a young man blowing soup bubbles. It became well known because it was used in advertisements by Pears, a soap company
Buck's Fizz: (Br E) a traditional drink made of champagne and orange juice usually drunk at important events
the bulldog breed: used when referring especially to the British soldiers
Bull market: expression used when the prices of shares raise and the their owners - the bulls - wait for a better moment to make a profit by selling them at a higher price.
Bungalow: typical British house usually lived by old retired people because they are built only at ground level not to have stairs
Burberry: a waterproof raincoat of high quality and expensive (BrE)
Burger King: well known chain of restaurants for fast food (AmE)
Burlesque/burlesque (AmE): stage variety show once popular in US. It started as family entertainment in 1860s and ended with striptease shows in 1920s.
C
the Cabinet: a committee responsible for deciding and coordinating the government
policy. The Prime Minister selects 20 persons representing the government
departments. They have to decide on different issues when they meet at their
place -
In US the Cabinet consists of 14 heads of departments that make the executive branch of the federal government. The president appoints the department heads, called secretaries who give him advice on policies. State governments are organized similarly and most have a cabinet.
Cadillac: a large and expensive car considered to be a sign of wealth and success
in
Caedmon: the first English poet who was mentioned by Bede.
Caesar salad: a typical American salad made of lettuce, cheese and eggs
Cadbury: has
been selling chocolate since 1824 and the name means "chocolate" for
people in
Christmas: the most important public holidays: Christmas Eve (24 December),
Christmas Day (25 December) and Boxing Day (26 December). The celebration was
brought by Queen
City, the: the financial centre of
Commonwealth, the: Informal association of fifty countries, having no common written constitution
Comprehensive school: it puts pupils in different classes according to their ability, but there are no entry qualifications.
Conductive Education: a system for teaching children with cerebral palsy, mental handicaps, to use their limbs and minds to full capacity
Cornflakes: cereals eaten for breakfast with cold milk and sugar
County: an area
of the country with its own local government and identity. The
Cricket: one of the three English national sports for men, (football and rugby) but nowadays women play them too
Crisps: potato sliced very thin and fried and salted with different flavours.
Custard: sweet sauce made of eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla. It is served hot with fruit pies for pudding
Designer: the term came into English in 70's when famous fashion designers put their name-label on the outside of cloths that became fashionable and expensive.
Dinner: evening meal. When having it earlier, it is more informal and is often the time people eat after a day at work. A formal dinner is usually served later. Dinner is also used for midday meal instead of lunch by working class families especially in the North of England, where the evening meal is called "tea" or "supper"
Disc Jockey (DJ): The term came from
Double-decker bus: it has two levels of seating. At the beginning the top level had no roof till 1925. Fares are collected by the driver on entering the bus.
E
Englishness: the "Englishness" of the Anglo-Saxons, as opposed to the "Britishness" of the Celts -circulated widely in the Anglo-Saxon world. A religious notion from the moment Pope Gregory sent Augustine to England with the mission of establishing a Church of the English, in the light of his celebrated if apocryphal remark "non Angli sed angeli" ("Not Angles but angels"). A late seventh-century biography then declared that Gregory would lead "gentem Anglorum" into the sight of god at the time of the Last Judgement. One of the reason for the success of the Reformation and the formation of the Church of England, lies in this national zeal.
E-numbers - colouring or preservatives allowed by the European Community are food additives and are represented, on the food labels, with a e number in front, such as E101, or E102
Eton - a
famous
Fahrenheit: a scale for measuring temperature invented by the German scientist, Gabriel Fahrenheit. The freezing point is 32
Fleet Street: a
Fish and chips: a popular food originating in the 6o's when the railways brought regular supplies of fresh fish to the cities
Fish fingers: made of white fish, in a finger form covered in breadcrumbs and usually fried, served with chips and vegetables
Foot (Feet): length measurement equal to 0.30 metre. Its name comes probably from the average length of a man's foot. Divided into 12 inches. Three feet make a yard.
Football: the most popular sport in
Football hooligans: British football fans that have become well known for their violence
Football pools: the: gambling on the results of Saturday football matches. People fill in a form to predict which teams will "draw" (both have the same number of goals)
Fox-hunting: popular sport since the Middle Ages. A group of people on horses, named "the Hunt", together with hunting dogs, named "pack of hounds" chase foxes across the place until it is caught and killed by the dogs. There is a strong opposition nowadays against this sport, which is considered "blood sport".
Foyle's: one of the largest bookshops opened by William Alfred Foyle
Freemasonry: a semi-secret society based on ancient religious, magic and philosophy. Many political leaders of the society, in the police, business, finance and the Royal Family belong to the Freemasons
G
Gaelic: the
native language of
Gallon: measurement for liquids. Its metric equivalent is 4.5 litres. One gallon is divided into 8 pints.
Gatwick:
GCSE (General certificate of secondary Education) - final examination for the pupils at the end of their fifth year of secondary education, at the age of sixteen
Gibraltar: a British island that was taken from
Gin and tonic: a popular alcoholic drink that was first made in
Girobank: a popular bank settled by the Post Office in 1968. As it is used for payments by the Department of Social Security, the cheques used for the benefit are often called "giro"
GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) Standard time in
Gravy: dark, rich sauce used for roast meat which is poured over the meat when it is eaten with vegetables and potatoes
Green: is now used as a descriptive word for many ecological issues. Used as an adjective can be added to any word, like: e.g. green advertising, green cars, green packaging, green books
Greyhound: popular English sport. Greenhound are tall, thin dogs that are raced on a circular track.
Guinness: a dark, almost black beer with a white head of foam. The taste is
strong and bitter. The Guinness brewers' family makes the kind of beer called
porter because it was popular with the porter of
Guy Fawkes: Roman Catholic involved in a plot to kill the Protestant King
James I in 16o5 by blowing up the house of Parliament. He was caught and
executed. Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night, on 5 November became one of
H
Haggis: normally eaten in Scotland. It is sheep's intestine stuffed with meat and vegetables.
Hardbacks: books with hard covers. They are thought to be of higher quality than the paperbacks
Harrods: a large department store that became a tourist attraction to, as it became
an independent state of
Heathrow: The
Heritage industry: name given to modern ways of presenting the past in museums and
historic sites. Old factories, mines and houses have turned into mechanical
recreation of historical places. In the
Honours System, the: a series of medals, awards and titles given by the monarch twice a year, at the New Year and on the monarch's official birthday in June.
Hooray Henry: insulting name given to a man of the upper class who acts in an arrogant, loud or silly manner
Horseracing: very popular British sport which was first recorded officially in 1540.
The races are also social occasions. They are televised and one of them,
H.P. Sauce: made of vinegar, tomatoes, fruit, onions and spices. It is dark brown and has a sharp salty taste. It is usually used with fried foods, meat pies and sausages. The small shop-owner sold it first heard that it was use in the House of Parliament, so it named it H.P. sauce
I
Independent Television (ITV): founded in 1955 under the control of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA)
Irish Republican Army (IRA): An extreme military organization as a wing of the Sinn Fein
It fights on the Catholic side and it wants
Jockey Club, the: was awarded the Royal Charter in 197o as a governing body of the horse
Racing in
John Bull: the symbol of a typical Englishman, often drawn on the cartoons or
pictures about
John O'Groats: the most northern
K
Kilt: a
traditional skirt worn by Scotsmen. It comes from a long piece of cloth, called
a plaid that was wrapped around the body. By the eighteen century it was
separated into two pieces. . The kilt is made of tartan that has a complicated
pattern of squares in different colours according to the clan, family or wearer.
The kilt was declared illegal between 1746 and 1782 after the Scots had fought
Kippers: smoked herrings. They are eaten usually for breakfast, boiled and served with melted butter
L
Lake District, the: one of the most beautiful areas in north-western
Land's End: the most southern point of Britain in
Launderette: a common sight in a British town of village. It contains self-service washing machines and spin-driers. The washings can be left with an attendant and collected later, but many people stay and read magazines, smoke, gossip,
Loch Ness Monster, the: a large animal supposed to live in loch (Gaelic lake) Ness in
"L" plates: standing for learner attached to a car at the front and at the back when someone is learning to drive. It can be said I've still got my "L" plates on when you are learning to do anything.
Lunch: midday meal. For many people it is a snack, but it is also used by many people for entertaining clients.
M
Mac/Mc: Scottish prefix for names meaning son of.
Marks and Spencer: a chain of department stores which sell women's and
men's clothing. The company started in 1884 by a Russian refugee, Michael Marks
who used to sell pins, cotton, and cloth from a box as he walked from village
to village. Tom Spencer, an accountant, joined him in 1894 and they started'34
penny bazaar' market stalls where everything was sold for a penny. Nowadays it
sells 5% of
Mile: the longest unit of measurement. It is equal to 1.69km.
Milkman, the: delivers milk to people's houses in the morning. He collects empty bottles and leaves bottles or cartoons of milk on the doorsteps. He can also carry eggs, butter, cheese, and fruit juice. He drives around in a milk-float, a small, slow, electric vehicle with open sides and back.
Money:
N
Nanny: woman employed in private families to looks after young children.
National Gallery, the, of
New Age: a way of life that is a reaction to the lifestyle of the 198os that has interests in money, power and possessions. The New Agers shifted their interest to spiritualism, religion, ecology, natural values and children.
Next: a chain of popular fashion clothes shops for men and women very successful in the 8o's. It was founded by the family bearing this name. It provided a cheap education in style and fashion that had not been available to the majority of people before.
999 (nine nine nine): the emergency telephone number for ambulance, police or fire brigade available 24 hours a day.
Notting Hill: Carnival, the: is the
Number ten: is the abbreviation of
Nursery schools: schools for children under 5
O
O': specific for Irish family names, such as O'Malley, O'Grady, etc. It means "son of"
Odeon: company that owns cinemas. It was founded in 1937 and nowadays it
has 255 screens in 74 towns. The largest is in
Off-Licence: a kind of shop that sells alcohol, but the customer must take it away to drink "off" the premise. It also sells cigarettes, chocolate and crisps. The Pubs (Public Houses) have a licence to sell alcohol to be drunk on the premises.
Open University: often attended by people to have a formal education degree obtained by
the system of "distance leaning" The TV and Radio broadcast teaching
programmes for the students. They can also attend summer schools where the
students meet their tutors. Courses take six years usually and the students get
a number of credits for each year's work. The open University was founded in
1069 in
Ounce: the smallest unit of weight that equals 28 grams. There are 16 ounces in a pound. The abbreviation for ounce is "oz"
Oxbridge: a name mixed from
P
Paperbacks: books with soft covers made of thick paper. They are much cheaper than "hardbacks"
Pie: A pie is some food surrounded by pastry (pastry is a mixture of flour and butter). It is normally baked in the oven. The content of the pie can be sweet or savoury. Typical examples of pies are "steak and kidney pie" or "apple pie". There are variations of the pie such as cornish pasties. Pasties were originally invented so that working men could take their food to work with them. Someone told me that miners in the Cornish tin mines invented the cornish pastie.
Picnic: meal taken outdoors
Pier: type of
road raised on wooden pillars in the sea found at seaside resorts in
Pillar Box: (post box) used by the post office to collect letters. They were introduced in 1850. They are bright red and have the initials of the king or queen on them to see how old they are.
Pint: measurement for liquids equal to 0, 57 litres. Milk and bear are still sold in pint bottles or cartons. You ask for a "pint" or "half" and a pint means "bear".
Plonk: name for popular cheap wines. The slang word comes from the sound of something heavy being dropped into liquid.
Ploughman's lunch: served in pubs. It consists of bread, cheese, pickles and sometimes a salad and a meat pie. A bear is usually served with it. It is a very popular thing to eat to eat in a "pub" at midday. It normally consists of a bread roll with a piece of cheese and a pickled onion.
p.m.: (post meridian) used with the 12w-hour clock for the time between midday and midnight, so four o'clock in the afternoon is 4 p.m.
Police, the : the modern police force was established in London in 1829 There are 43 police forces each of them being headed by a Chief Constable
Porridge: Scottish food made of oats, a type of cereal, boiled in water with salt. It is eaten usually for breakfast. It also served in prisons and boarding schools. It is also a prison slang word used for the time spent in prison.
Postcode: post code introduced by the Post Office to ease sorting the letters
Pound: unit of weight: equal to 0,45 kg. There are 14 pounds in a stone. The abbreviation for pound is "lb"
Proms, the: (Henry Wood Promenade Concerts) were founded by the conductor Henry Wood in 1895. There are around 6 concertos of classical and new music from mid-July to mid-September held in Albert Hall. The open area of the building is left for people to stand. Proms are traditionally noisy and undisciplined with everyone clapping along to the orchestra and joining in with the singers.
Public schools: an exclusive private type of school. Eton and
Pudding: 1. a kind of a sweat pie made of fruit; 2. meat pudding that has also vegetables and gravy. The ingredients are put in a heavy pastry made with suet and animal fat. Pudding is also the name used by some people for the sweet course of the meal.
Q
Quakers:
religious movement settled in 1650 by George Fox. Its real name is the Society
of Friends. The nickname comes from "Quake" which means to
"shake", "tremble" during religious ecstasy. Many Quaker
have been social reformers. William Penn left
Queen's Birthday: official birthday of the monarch celebrated usually on the first days
of June. The Trooping of the Colour's parade in
R
Rugby: a form
of football that started in 1823 when a pupil from
Ball is oval shaped.
S
Saatchi, Charles and Maurice: are the owners of the advertising agency, Saatchi &Saatchi. They became famous when they were hired by the Conservative party in the 70's to produce a political campaign.
Sainsbury's: supermarkets chain with Tesco the leading position in food and drink
selling in
Sales: are held twice a year by shops and department stores to get rid of the old stock of the merchandise. The prices are cut of up to 70%. There are January Sales and Summer Sales.
Samaritans, the: voluntary service of counseling and advice over the telephone to people who are unhappy or thinking of killing themselves
Sandwich: Name given to the two pieces of bread , spread with butter or margarine and filled with meat, fish, salad, jam or even sugar. It was named by the Earl of Sandwich who lived in the town with the same name in the 18th century. He used to eat like this because he didn't have time to go to dinner because he was busy with gambling.
Sausages: the typical sausages in
Scotch: name given to the Scotch whisky. It should not be used to describe anything
coming from
Scotland Yard: the headquarters of the Metropolitan police in
Sliced Bread: bread sold sliced. As it is a very convenient, there is saying: "It's the best thing since sliced bread" which means something in a new or clever idea
Snack: small meal. Such a sandwich, toast, fruit or soup eaten between meals
Soap Operas: popular serial broadcast on TV or radio several times a day. It was a time when in the 1950s soap companies sponsored these serials in exchange for advertisements
Solicitor: a job performed by someone who makes connection between the public and the legal system. They do the legal work on buying and selling property (conveyancing) He can take cases of traffic offences or divorce disputes to the Magistrate's Court, but never to the High Court, where the case must be carried out by a barrister.
Spare Rib: a feminist magazine fist published in 197y2. They publish articles about a wide range of subjects including law, politics, arts and even man. The title makes reference to the creation story in which God created the fist woman, Eve, out of one of Adam's ribs.
Spitting image: a comedy of political satire, shown on Independent Television. The characters are portrayed as puppets that are ugly and the satire is cruel.
Stamps: produced by Post Office: The fist stamp in the world was
"Penny Black" that appeared in 1840. It showed a profile of Queen
Stansted: the third
Stately Homes: name given to great houses and palaces built by aristocrats in the countryside.
Stew: meal made of meat and vegetables, usually onion, carrots and potatoes, in gravy. It is cooked in the oven in a pot called casserole, usually eaten in winter. It is traditionally served with "dumplings", small balls made from a four and suet (hard fat) mixture which is cooked in the gravy.
Stone: unit of weight, equal to 6.53 kg. People measure their weight in stones.
Sunday Lunch: traditional meal of roast beef, potatoes and boiled vegetables, like carrots, peas, or cabbage served with gravy, a thin sauce. Lamb or chicken or pork can also be eaten as mea.. It can be followed by a pudding such an apple or blackberry pie with custard. Changes in diet and a smaller or single-parent family mean that Sunday lunch is not quiet so popular as it used to be.
Supper: a light meal eaten late at night, perhaps after a visit to the cinema or theatre. It is sometimes used to mean "dinner".
T
Takeaway: ready-cooked meal to be taken away to eat in the street or at home.
Tate Gallery: named after Henry Tate who donated his collection of 65 paintings to the nation and he also paid for the building sheltering the Gallery which was opened in 1897. It became the Gallery of modern art and it comprises a large collection of British art from 1550 to the present day and a collection of European twentieth century paintings.
Tatler: an old magazine founded in 1750 written for rich and aristocratic and people that want to find out about them. It was very popular in the 80's when money and power were fashionable.
Tea: British
national drink. It was brought to
Tesco: the
first self service supermarket chain in
Tips: small amount of money given to someone for a service.
Town Hall: the building where the local government or council is placed. Local laws, called by-laws are issued from here.
Trade Unions: associations of working men settled in 1824 for the first time. They usually bargain for better hours or conditions.
Traffic Wardens: people that have power to direct the traffic although they are not members of the police. Women traffic wardens are sometimes called "meter-maids" from the words of a Beatles song.
U
UB40: a form given to the unemployed for the unemployment benefit. It is used in shops, cinemas, etc for discounts. UB40 means "without work". A successful reggae group baring the same name was founded in 1980's when 10% of the population was unemployed.
Union Jack: the name given to the British flag. It was created in 1606 following
the union of
Victorian Values: are hard work, saving money, a traditional morality
based on family and patriotism. These values have a special meaning in GB
because the Victorian Age was the time of the
V-sign: the
rudest gesture in
Wally: a term of abuse meaning "fool" or "idiot". It is not very insulting but makes someone seem less important than you.
Wimp: an insult to someone that is a weak, easily frightened and unadventurous person. The adjective is "wimpish". It can be used in a friendly way.
Woolworth: an American chain of stores selling a wide range of goods including food, furniture, records, toys, , clothes, etc
X
X as a letter has many uses in English language. Mr. X is used for a
anonymous person, or it can mean anyone, a symbol of all people. Also used for
an unknown amount of things: "X" thousand of pounds. "X" is
also used to mean 'cross' so the
Xmas: abbreviation for Christmas
X-rated: means that something is pornographic or violent and therefore is not suitable for children. An "X" film id for adults only.
Y
Yard: a unit of measurement equal to o.9144 metre. A yard is 3 feet and there are 1.760 yards to a mile
Y-fronts: underpants worn by men. They have an upside-down Y-shape slit in front.
Yorkshire pudding: A batter made with flour, eggs and milk and cooked in the oven. This is most often eaten with roast beef for Sunday lunch. (Batter is the same mixture that is used to make pancakes)
Z
Zebra crossing: black and white stripped area on roads where people can cross safely. If these crossings have traffic lights they are called "Pelican" crossing.
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