Tips & Suggestions

English Pronunciation - a D.E.A.D.L.Y. trap for the novice. Want to sound like a Brit on your holiday? A few tips.

SHIRE - pronounced SURE - i.e. - Yorkshire (York-sure)

Worcester - rhymes with rooster

Leicester - pronounced Lester

Shrewsbury - pronouned Shoes-bry or Shows-bry or Shrues-bry. Last accents the 'r' horribly! You need marbles in the mouth to do a good job.

Nottingham - equal accent across the length of the name so that 'ham' ends up sounding like 'him' - ditto Cheltenham

Warwick - pronounced War-ick

Torquay - pronounced Tor-key

Pontefract - pronounced Pom-fret [pomfret1(`p^mfr€t, `p„m-) or pomfret-cake a small black rounded confection of liquorice. Also called: Pontefract cake[C19: from Pomfret, earlier form of PONTEFRACT, where the cake was originally made] Not always the case, but if it was good enough for Will Shakespeare, then ...

Clerk - a shop assistant or office personnel. Despite the spelling, it's pronounced clark [don't ask!]

Queue - a line [queue for a taxi, 'back of the queue, mate' - pronounced cue], brolly - an umbrella, barney - noisy argument, quay - pronounced key [a wharf, typically one built parallel to the shoreline.]

Brolly - an umbrella

Starters - first course of a meal.. Not to be confused with the main course which is, of course, calls the mains.

SPECIAL NOTE: Scotch - another word for Scottish, the Scots or their language Usage. In the north of England and in Scotland, Scotch is not used outside fixed expressions such as Scotch whisky. The use of Scotch for Scots or Scottish is otherwise felt to be incorrect, esp. when applied to persons.

FOOD

English Breakfast (B&B syle) - sausage, bacon, (usually) one fried egg, toast, marmalade, jam and coffee/tea. The word ketchup is becoming more common but generally speaking, tomato sauce is still used. Peanut butter is not a household staple but Marmite/Vegemite are - a yeast and vegetable extract used as a spread, flavouring, etc. An acquired taste!

Black Pudding - a kind of black sausage made from minced pork fat, pig's blood, and other ingredients. Also called: blood pudding. Usual U.S. and Canadian name: blood sausage. Occasionally served with an English breakfast.

Spotted Dick - a steamed or boiled suet pudding containing dried fruit, usually currents. Pure stodge.

Ploughman's Lunch - a snack lunch, served esp. in a pub, consisting of bread and cheese with pickle, small salad. The construction will vary greatly from place to place.

Coffee/tea is often served with warm milk. An excellent idea when you think about it.

Tea Time: Afternoon tea: A light meal eaten in mid-afternoon (4-ish), usually consisting of tea and cakes, biscuits or small sandwiches. High tea: Afternoon tea that also includes a light cooked dish. Teabread - a loaf-shaped cake that contains dried fruit which has been steeped in cold tea before baking: served sliced and buttered. Eccles cake - a pastry with a filling of dried fruit. Rock cake - a small cake containing dried fruit and spice, with a rough surface supposed to resemble a rock. Unless purchased within two hours after baking, it may more than resemble a rock!

Whisky Mac - a drink consisting of Scotch whisky and ginger wine. Very medicinal!

Bap - small, soft bread roll.

Trifle - a cold dessert made with sponge cake spread with jam or fruit, soaked in wine or sherry, covered with a custard sauce and cream, and decorated. Not low-cal.

PUB TALK: Bitter - Draught beer with a high hop content, with a slightly bitter taste. Half-and-half - A drink consisting of equal parts of beer and stout, or equal parts of bitter and mild. Porter - A dark sweet ale brewed from black malt [C18: shortened from porter's ale, apparently because it was a favourite beverage of porters] Stout - A strong porter highly flavoured with malt. Shandy - An alcoholic drink made of beer and ginger beer or lemonade. Makes a great thirst-quencher. Gill - Northern Brit. dialect. half a pint, esp. of beer. Pint - (A unit of liquid measure of capacity equal to one eighth of a gallon. 1 Brit. pint is equal to 0.568 litre, 1 U.S. pint to 0.473 litre.

Buy an adapter before leaving North America. British plugs have three flat pins while the rest of Europe has two round pins. Most adapters sold in the UK are designed to convert European appliances only.

Special items to pack included: hand soap, panty-liners, travel alarm clock with luminescent dial/face, umbrella, raincoat with hood (including the emergency kind, transparent and capable of being crunched up into a small bag and carried in a purse), Swiss Army Knife (corkscrew) and field glasses. Comfortable, SOFT-SOLED walking shoes - an absolute must. For touring Laura chose an oversized bag with zippered compartments designed not only to hold her notes but configured with a strap over the shoulder and side handles which she could slip through her hand to prevent a thief from simply cutting the strap.

Designed to carry a maximum of 5 passengers, all taxis are metered and the fare is based on time and mileage while surcharges are added for extra passengers, luggage, and what is called 'unsocial hours' transport (such as very late at night). The regular fare price is shown on the right; surcharges to the left. The driver controls the door locks so it is not only polite but necessary to talk with him first, tell him where you are going, etc. before he will accept your custom, unlock the doors, help if necessary with luggage and, of course start his meter (which extinquishes the overhead light). Meters start ticking at about 1 pound.

It's possible to converse with the driver through the open glass panel provided you can be heard over the din of traffic. A good taxi driver (and they are all excellent) will act as tour guide, pointing out items of interest along the way and providing amusing anecdotes and London gossip on a wide range of topics. Anyone visiting London must take at least one taxi ride.