Those Poor English Kids!

It’s summer.

But English kids are still in school! 

I’m staying with friends this week in England and today is the last day of school for their kids.

They only get six weeks of summer vacation! 

When I was a kid, we got off the whole summer. 

There was time to go to summer camp for a month… time to go to the beach with your family for a week or two.. time to play… time to do summer reading… and time to do nothing at all. 

Isn’t that better? 

English Lesson #3

On Tuesday, I took the train from London to Peterborough, about an hour north of London.

But the announcement on the train didn’t say, “This train stops at Peterborough.” 

Instead, it said, “This train calls at Peterborough.”

“How odd,” I thought.

Then I picked up my book – Sense and Sensibility – and read this line: “Willoughby called at the cottage early the next morning.” 

And this book was published in 1811…long before phones were invented! 

In old movies, when someone comes to a house to visit, they’re “a caller.” 

Example: Jane received two gentlemen callers last Saturday.

So this must be the origin of the word “to call.” 

And while the original meaning of the word changed in the US, it stayed the same in the UK… 

Maybe that’s why English kids have to stay in school longer – their language is more difficult!