Minor Public School
tony cooper
I find that I can't explain it very well. The problem is in not being
able to identify which are the *major*, or not minor, public schools.
If all of the public schools in the UK are 100%, then what percentage
might be "minor"? Is there a bracket above "minor" but not quite
"major"?
Last, what is the opposite of "minor"? Normally we use "major" and
"minor" as opposites, but I wonder if public schools fit this rubric.
Somehow I feel that "sound", or "good", or "quite acceptable" would be
more appropriate than "major".
--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
Derek Turner
> While I do understand the phrase "He attended a minor public school", I
> find that I can't explain it very well. The problem is in not being
> able to identify which are the *major*, or not minor, public schools.
My dear chap, if you need to ask...
contrex
> While I do understand the phrase "He attended a minor public school",
> I find that I can't explain it very well. The problem is in not being
> able to identify which are the *major*, or not minor, public schools.
>
> If all of the public schools in the UK are 100%, then what percentage
> might be "minor"? Is there a bracket above "minor" but not quite
> "major"?
About 99.9% (see below)
I went to Alleyns, which is undoubtedly minor, (None of R.E. L
maunsell's 'Schools' class of Southern Railway locomotives was named
after it) (Maunsell was educated at the Royal School, Armagh)
>
> Last, what is the opposite of "minor"?
Public schools are often divided into "major" and "minor", but these
are not official definitions and the inclusion of a school in one or
the other group is purely subjective. One definition might be those
schools whose ex-pupils are entitled to join the Butterflies Cricket
Club which was founded by an old Rugbiean. Only players who came from
what were and are considered the major public schools were allowed to
play. The schools included Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Marlborough,
Oakham, Rugby, Westminster and Winchester. Apart from those eight,
there are over 2500 independent schools in the UK.
Ray O'Hara
"Derek Turner" <frd...@cesmail.net> wrote in message
news:671h2mF...@mid.individual.net...
If you don't know you shouldn't reply.
Ray O'Hara
"tony cooper" <tony_co...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:tk2n04ddalur9d6vl...@4ax.com...
> While I do understand the phrase "He attended a minor public school",
> I find that I can't explain it very well. The problem is in not being
> able to identify which are the *major*, or not minor, public schools.
>
I would imagine it's a matter of reputation.
Alan Jones
"contrex" <mike.j...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:db8440fe-9354-4973...@24g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
I don't think Oakham or Marlborough would be counted as "major" (Marlborough
lacks the required antiquity). St Paul's, though missing from Contrex's
list, is certainly "major", but unlike the others is predominantly a day
school.
Alan Jones
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
You used a crucial word there.
For those who are not familiar with the British (and Irish)
education system, the phrase "public school" refers to a school
in the private sector. It is an independent school.
From the OED:
1. Originally, in Britain and Ireland: any of a class of
grammar schools founded or endowed for public use and
subject to public management or control (freq. contrasted
with private school: cf. private school n. at PRIVATE adj.1,
adv., and n. Special uses 2).
The following is today's meaning:
Later, chiefly from the 19th cent. and also in some other
countries of the former British Empire: a fee-paying
secondary school which developed from former endowed
grammar[1] schools, or was modelled on similar lines, and
which takes pupils from beyond the local constituency and
usually offers boarding facilities.
Down to the 18th cent. public school was very generally
opposed to 'private school', and education in a 'public
school' was also contrasted with education at home under a
tutor .... The term was officially used in July 1860 in the
appointment of a Royal Commission, and in 1867 in 'An Act
for the better government and extension of certain Public
Schools'. As this act applied to the ancient endowed grammar
schools or colleges of Eton, Winchester, Westminster,
Harrow, Rugby, Charterhouse, and Shrewsbury, these have
sometimes been spoken of as 'the Seven Public Schools'; but
the name is generally used to include other schools of
similar organization.
Traditionally, pupils in the higher forms were prepared
mainly for the universities and for public service.
[1] In BrE a grammar school a type of high school.
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
Derek Turner
>> My dear chap, if you need to ask...
>
> If you don't know you shouldn't reply.
Sir, if you need to ask how much it costs you can't afford it. If you
need to ask which are the major public schools then you are certainly not
going to be sending your son to one of them: it is of no concern to you.
If you want a sensible answer I suggest you find out which schools the
Tory front bench and the members of the first division civil servants
went to.
Nick Spalding
<db8440fe-9354-4973...@24g2000hsh.googlegroups.com>
on Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:58:49 -0700 (PDT):
I don't think the phrase 'major public school' is much used, if at all.
Like you I was at a minor one, Gresham's, which grew out of a grammar
school founded in 1555 in the early 20th century.
--
Nick Spalding
BrE/IrE
irwell
Somebody who attended a minor public school lets
you know it within the first two minutes of meeting
him/her.
A person who went a major public school will never tell you
unless asked.
Robert Lieblich
He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know.
Who is "he"?
--
Bob Lieblich, AmEclectic
Who speaks, ergo does not know
Robert Lieblich
"If you don't know you shouldn't reply." -- Ray O'Hara, one minute
prior to posting the above.
Anyway, when did ignorance stop any of us, Ray O-Hara included, from
posting our imaginings?
--
Bob Lieblich, AmEclectic
As iggorant as the next guy
mUs1Ka
news:480BAB32...@yahoo.com...
Two true, B-ob.
--
Ray
UK
Jonathan Morton
news:hb8n04pj8792k5rni...@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:37:13 -0500, "Ray O'Hara"
> <mary.p...@rcn.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>"tony cooper" <tony_co...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>news:tk2n04ddalur9d6vl...@4ax.com...
>>> While I do understand the phrase "He attended a minor public school",
>>> I find that I can't explain it very well. The problem is in not being
>>> able to identify which are the *major*, or not minor, public schools.
>
> you know it within the first two minutes of meeting
> him/her.
That might be unfair in real life. But it is more or less what is meant when
novelists of a certain era - Dorothy L Sayers, for example - write that "so
and so was educated at a minor public school". It conveys an air of someone
who considers himself superior but retains a chip on the shoulder about not
having gone to a "proper" public school.
> A person who went a major public school will never tell you unless asked.
That is often true. And, as others have said, the expression "major public
school" is not in common use.
Regards
Jonathan
the Omrud
> I don't think the phrase 'major public school' is much used, if at all.
> Like you I was at a minor one, Gresham's, which grew out of a grammar
> school founded in 1555 in the early 20th century.
Holt? Cor, we learn things about our RRs every day. Were you local?
My parents lived in the village of Gresham for a few years when they
first retired.
Dad's school, Warwick, was and is probably "minor", but he is fond of
explaining that it was founded more than 1000 years ago. My grammar
school was founded in 1955, which I rarely bother to mention.
--
David
LFS
Katy E and I went to a very illustrious school founded in 1850. I see
that Wiki includes the odd sentence:
It is generally recognised as the first ambitious girls' school in the
United Kingdom, as it was the first to offer girls the same educational
opportunities as boys.
I wonder whether "ambitious" applies to the girls or the school.
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)
Paul Wolff
name) the 'major' public schools aren't commonly called that.
It's possible to speak of the 'great' public schools, but I think that's
rather over-egging the pudding in most cases. I'd allow that six of
those eight Butterflies members might merit 'great', but that is for
their history more than for their merit today. People will have
different criteria, and there was a rash of new foundations in the
mid-1800s of which some have become quite respectable, including
Marlborough and Radley. I don't know how Oakham found its way into Mike
contrex's list (I don't know anyone from Oakham, for goodness' sake) ,
but the rest would count. Others close to the upper echelons include
Sherborne, Repton, Wellington, Tonbridge, Dulwich, Cheltenham, Stowe,
Lancing, Shrewsbury, Uppingham, St Paul's, and others I am missing.
Brian Aldridge was at Sherborne (ref: The Archers). Dulwich College is
interesting in relation to Mike's Alleyn's School, because both were
founded (as far as I know, but I could be wrong) by James Alleyn, who
also founded a girls' school (called, by a quirky coincidence, James
Alleyn's School), and the Dulwich former pupils, or Old Boys, call
themselves Old Alleynians, which confuses me no end when I meet them,
since Alleyns was a football opponent. I'm a minor man myself, of
course, whose famous old boys begin and end with Victor Sylvester, Billy
Cotton Jr, Terry-Thomas, Mike Hailwood, and Ian Hislop, though I once
danced with a girl who'd danced with a man who'd been to Harrow. I may
even have kissed her, but I didn't tell (I was going to say couldn't
tell, but that would have been unfortunate).
Reverting to the question, you'd be pretty safe contrasting 'good' with
'minor'. Minor public schools do of course include good schools, but we
are talking reputation here, not quality of education. Going out on a
limb I propose that all public schools are minor except for two or three
dozen which are good; and of those, half a dozen are great. Please
note, and I can feel the icy stares coming on, that I am not presuming
to speak of any of the girls' schools in this classification: they are
in classes of their own.
--
Paul
Don Aitken
<ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote:
[quoting the OED on "public school"]
> The term was officially used in July 1860 in the
> appointment of a Royal Commission, and in 1867 in 'An Act
> for the better government and extension of certain Public
> Schools'. As this act applied to the ancient endowed grammar
> schools or colleges of Eton, Winchester, Westminster,
> Harrow, Rugby, Charterhouse, and Shrewsbury, these have
> sometimes been spoken of as 'the Seven Public Schools'; but
> the name is generally used to include other schools of
> similar organization.
>
Those seven are, or at least were, known as the "Clarendon Schools",
Lord Clarendon having been the chairman of the Commission. They are
regarded as being a cut above other public schools, but there is a
debatable middle ground between them and those which are referred to
as "minor".
--
Don Aitken
Mail to the From: address is not read.
To email me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com"
Paul Wolff
Greshamian of Nick Spalding's possible vintage were accidentally washed
in the Wolff family washing machine only four months ago, and that a
good friend of mine was a Warwick lad at Omrud père's estimated time in
that school, then -- well, I'm not sure what, exactly, except there's
always connections if you look for them, Q.E.D.
--
Paul
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
Connections. Would you Adam and Eve it?
tony cooper
Bad show, Ray. You're just going to prove that thing about Americans
if you keep on this way.
irwell
wrote:
>On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:40:32 +0100, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)"
><ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote:
>
>[quoting the OED on "public school"]
>
>> The term was officially used in July 1860 in the
>> appointment of a Royal Commission, and in 1867 in 'An Act
>> for the better government and extension of certain Public
>> Schools'. As this act applied to the ancient endowed grammar
>> schools or colleges of Eton, Winchester, Westminster,
>> Harrow, Rugby, Charterhouse, and Shrewsbury, these have
>> sometimes been spoken of as 'the Seven Public Schools'; but
>> the name is generally used to include other schools of
>> similar organization.
>>
>Those seven are, or at least were, known as the "Clarendon Schools",
>Lord Clarendon having been the chairman of the Commission. They are
>regarded as being a cut above other public schools, but there is a
>debatable middle ground between them and those which are referred to
>as "minor".
The IV top universities in the USA are Ivy League.
irwell
wrote:
Two tanners make a bob,
Three make one and six
And four two bob,
To the tune of Rule Britannia.
contrex
> contrex <mike.j.har...@gmail.com> wrote
>
> >I went to Alleyns, which is undoubtedly minor
> Others close to the upper echelons include
> ... Dulwich ...
> Dulwich College is interesting in relation to Mike's Alleyn's School, because both were
> founded (as far as I know, but I could be wrong) by James Alleyn,
Edward Alleyn founded Alleyn's School. In 1619 he established his
"College of God's Gift" (the gift of love) with twelve students.
Alleyn's School is a direct descendant of Edward Alleyn's original
foundation and was established as a boys' school in 1882. It still
exists as part of a foundation alongside Dulwich College. It split
with Dulwich College after the "Dulwich College Act" of 1857, with the
upper school of the original foundation moving to a new site further
south and the lower school (now Alleyns) staying put, becoming an
independent boys school in 1882 and later also moving to its own site.
> who also founded a girls' school (called, by a quirky coincidence, James
> Alleyn's School),
It's called James Allen's Girls School (JAGS). It is part of the
Alleyn's College foundation alongside Dulwich College and Alleyn's
School. It was founded by a Master of Dulwich College, James Allen, in
1741, as a free reading school for the local poor.
> and the Dulwich former pupils, or Old Boys, call
> themselves Old Alleynians, which confuses me no end when I meet them,
> since Alleyns was a football opponent.
Alleyns former pupils in my day (harrumph) called themselves Alleyn
Old Boys and had AOB after their name in school publications. Since
1975 the school has been coed so you have Alleyn Old Girls, AOGs, as
well.
contrex
> contrex's list (I don't know anyone from Oakham, for goodness' sake) ,
It was in a list I found on Google.
Steve Hayes
wrote:
>While I do understand the phrase "He attended a minor public school",
>I find that I can't explain it very well. The problem is in not being
>able to identify which are the *major*, or not minor, public schools.
>
>If all of the public schools in the UK are 100%, then what percentage
>might be "minor"? Is there a bracket above "minor" but not quite
>"major"?
Minor would be ones you haven't heard of before, which still belong to the
headmasters' conference.
"Major" would be the ones that reasonably well-read people know about, because
they've read about them. It's what used to be known as "general knowledge" but
after the marketing of the game "Trivial Pursuit (TM)" became known as
"trivia".
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
HVS
> I don't think the phrase 'major public school' is much used, if
> at all. Like you I was at a minor one, Gresham's, which grew out
> of a grammar school founded in 1555 in the early 20th century.
"...grew out of a grammar school founded in 1555 in the early 20th
century."
Hmmm.....
--
Cheers, Harvey
CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed
Jitze
<ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote:
I was under the impression that being a Public School (in the
British sense) somehow was also a function of membership
in something called "The Headmaster's Conference" or something
named along those lines.
A big point was made at the school I attended that it was one
of only two such schools overseas - namely Prince of Wales
(in Kenya where I went) and Geelong in Australia (where
Prince Charles spent some time IIRC). Our cross-town
rivals (Duke of York) were not so blessed, so we could look
down our collective noses at them. And besides, we had
at least one VC and a whole gaggle of DSO's and DFC's
and George Crosses and so forth - much more than they
had - but they hadn't been around as long, so not quite fair.
Jitze
Mike Barnes
>the Omrud wrote:
>> Nick Spalding wrote:
>>
>>> I don't think the phrase 'major public school' is much used, if at
>>>all.
>>> Like you I was at a minor one, Gresham's, which grew out of a grammar
>>> school founded in 1555 in the early 20th century.
>> Holt? Cor, we learn things about our RRs every day. Were you
>>local? My parents lived in the village of Gresham for a few years
>>when they first retired.
>> Dad's school, Warwick, was and is probably "minor", but he is fond
>>of explaining that it was founded more than 1000 years ago. My
>>grammar school was founded in 1955, which I rarely bother to mention.
>>
>
>Katy E and I went to a very illustrious school founded in 1850.
You've prompted me to look up the founding dates of my old schools. The
answers are 1553, 1509, 1557, and 1850-ish[1]. That last one seems very
modern, and IIRC, seemed so at the time.
[1] I'm being deliberately vague because "the last school attended" has
been used a security question.
--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England
the Omrud
> [1] I'm being deliberately vague because "the last school attended" has
> been used a security question.
Interesting. One of my banks uses "first school attended". My last
school attended would be simplicity itself to discover, although the
name was so long and subject to change during my 7 years there, I could
write it in all sorts of different ways.
--
David
Matthew Huntbach
If one hears "he went to a public school" or "he is a public schoolboy",
the assumption will be that he went to one of a fairly small number of
schools - I'm not sure if the eight named above are strictly the canonical
ones, but it wouldn't be much more than this.
As noted, there are many more schools which have a similar set-up (fee-paying,
not part of the state education system, pupils board there), but are less
well known and less prestigious. In a sense these are "public schools",
but to indicate they aren't the top-ranking ones, the word "minor public
school" would be used. So you could say the opposite of "minor public school" is
"public school".
Matthew Huntbach
R H Draney
>
>Public schools are often divided into "major" and "minor", but these
>are not official definitions and the inclusion of a school in one or
>the other group is purely subjective. One definition might be those
>schools whose ex-pupils are entitled to join the Butterflies Cricket
>Club which was founded by an old Rugbiean. Only players who came from
>what were and are considered the major public schools were allowed to
>play. The schools included Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Marlborough,
>Oakham, Rugby, Westminster and Winchester. Apart from those eight,
>there are over 2500 independent schools in the UK.
A minor school is obviously one with a flattened third....r
--
What good is being an executive if you never get to execute anyone?
Wood Avens
wrote:
>Dad's school, Warwick, was and is probably "minor", but he is fond of
>explaining that it was founded more than 1000 years ago.
For Tony's further enlightenment, though, I have to point out that
ancientness of foundation doesn't mean that one can assume that a
school is a public school, even a minor one. The comprehensive (=
state-run, non-selective) school which educated my children was
founded in 1575.
--
Katy Jennison
spamtrap: remove the first two letters after the @
Nick Spalding
on Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:40:53 GMT:
> Nick Spalding wrote:
>
> > I don't think the phrase 'major public school' is much used, if at all.
> > Like you I was at a minor one, Gresham's, which grew out of a grammar
> > school founded in 1555 in the early 20th century.
>
> Holt? Cor, we learn things about our RRs every day. Were you local?
> My parents lived in the village of Gresham for a few years when they
> first retired.
That's the one. I wasn't local - boys born within five (I think that was
the number) of Holt Market Cross got there free. I expect they still do.
I am not quite sure why I ended up there. I was supposed to be going to
Dartmouth and got all that was needed in Common Entrance but it turned out
that I had bad eyesight which nobody had noticed before so there was a bit
of panic to get me in somewhere at short notice. I know Blundell's was
also considered.
> Dad's school, Warwick, was and is probably "minor", but he is fond of
> explaining that it was founded more than 1000 years ago. My grammar
> school was founded in 1955, which I rarely bother to mention.
--
Nick Spalding
BrE/IrE
Nick Spalding
on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:06:00 +0100:
> On 20 Apr 2008, Nick Spalding wrote
>
>
> > I don't think the phrase 'major public school' is much used, if
> > at all. Like you I was at a minor one, Gresham's, which grew out
> > of a grammar school founded in 1555 in the early 20th century.
>
> "...grew out of a grammar school founded in 1555 in the early 20th
> century."
>
> Hmmm.....
A few commas would have been nice...
--
Nick Spalding
BrE/IrE
Nick Spalding
on Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:38:41 +0100:
1945 – 1949.
--
Nick Spalding
BrE/IrE
the Omrud
Gresham's? Too late for Benjamin Britten then. That's the end of my
knowledge about the school.
<checks for people I've heard of>
Lord Reith, Erskine Childers, John Tusa (looks like he must have
coincided with you), Stephen Spender, Lennox Berkeley, Colin Leakey
(another overlap?), Stephen Fry (he was fairly local, I think), James
Dyson. And Paddy O'Connell, of BH fame.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Old_Greshamians
--
David
K. Edgcombe
LFS <la...@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
>
>Katy E and I went to a very illustrious school founded in 1850. I see
>that Wiki includes the odd sentence:
>
>It is generally recognised as the first ambitious girls' school in the
>United Kingdom, as it was the first to offer girls the same educational
>opportunities as boys.
>
>I wonder whether "ambitious" applies to the girls or the school.
But it wasn't, at the time, an independent school. (and I suspect it is still
not a public school, on the basis that girls' school had to be GPDST to be
called public schools (Girls' Public Day Schools Trust, I think)).
However, on your ambiguity, a learned judge in a House of Lords hearing
has just referred to the other establishment at which I was educated as
a "famously poor womens' College".
Katy
Nick Spalding
on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:20:08 GMT:
John Tusa had a brother there at the same time, I was in the same form as
one of them but don't remember which. They were in a different House.
No recollection of Leakey.
I see Thomas Stuttaford, a medical correspondent for The Times and the
Oldie, was born the same year as me so must have been there at the same
time but I have no recollection of him.
--
Nick Spalding
BrE/IrE
Wood Avens
>In article <671timF...@mid.individual.net>,
>LFS <la...@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>Katy E and I went to a very illustrious school founded in 1850. I see
>>that Wiki includes the odd sentence:
>>
>>It is generally recognised as the first ambitious girls' school in the
>>United Kingdom, as it was the first to offer girls the same educational
>>opportunities as boys.
>>
>>I wonder whether "ambitious" applies to the girls or the school.
>
>But it wasn't, at the time, an independent school. (and I suspect it is still
>not a public school, on the basis that girls' school had to be GPDST to be
>called public schools (Girls' Public Day Schools Trust, I think)).
>
Surely not: there must have been (and probably still are, unless
they've all gone co-educational) public schools for girls which aren't
day schools. Wouldn't Roedean or Cheltenham Ladies College have
counted as public schools?
(My school was one of the GPDST stable.)
LFS
> In article <671timF...@mid.individual.net>,
> LFS <la...@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
>> Katy E and I went to a very illustrious school founded in 1850. I see
>> that Wiki includes the odd sentence:
>>
>> It is generally recognised as the first ambitious girls' school in the
>> United Kingdom, as it was the first to offer girls the same educational
>> opportunities as boys.
>>
>> I wonder whether "ambitious" applies to the girls or the school.
>
> But it wasn't, at the time, an independent school. (and I suspect it is still
> not a public school, on the basis that girls' school had to be GPDST to be
> called public schools (Girls' Public Day Schools Trust, I think)).
I was always led to believe that NL was a cut above the GPDST schools. I
wonder what FMB's relationship with the founders of the GPDST was.
>
> However, on your ambiguity, a learned judge in a House of Lords hearing
> has just referred to the other establishment at which I was educated as
> a "famously poor womens' College".
>
Delightful!
tony cooper
wrote:
>the Omrud wrote, in <FLOOj.12072$yD2....@text.news.virginmedia.com>
> on Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:40:53 GMT:
>
>> Nick Spalding wrote:
>>
>> > I don't think the phrase 'major public school' is much used, if at all.
>> > Like you I was at a minor one, Gresham's, which grew out of a grammar
>> > school founded in 1555 in the early 20th century.
>>
>> Holt? Cor, we learn things about our RRs every day. Were you local?
>> My parents lived in the village of Gresham for a few years when they
>> first retired.
>
>That's the one. I wasn't local - boys born within five (I think that was
>the number) of Holt Market Cross got there free. I expect they still do.
>I am not quite sure why I ended up there. I was supposed to be going to
>Dartmouth and got all that was needed in Common Entrance but it turned out
>that I had bad eyesight which nobody had noticed before so there was a bit
>of panic to get me in somewhere at short notice. I know Blundell's was
>also considered.
This threw me at first, but I'm guessing that the school in question
was Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. Poor eyesight would
not be a factor in admission to other schools.
I have no idea if our military academies have an eyesight requirement.
I wouldn't think so, though.
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
wrote:
That is now the _Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference_
http://www.hmc.org.uk/
The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC)
represents the Heads of some 250 leading independent schools
in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
HMC has a further 60 or so international members, up to 30
additional members (Heads of maintained schools in the UK),
and 40 Honorary Associate members (retired members).
HMC exists to serve and support its members, to represent
their views and to exemplify excellence in education.
Technically, it is an association of heads rather than schools.
I don't know what happens when a head leaves a school. Does the
new head have to apply for membership of the HMC (if not already
one)? And to what extent does the nature and prestige of the
school qualify its head for membership?
A former co-worker of mine used to teach at Bangor Grammar
School (Northern Ireland). Her comments were dismissive when she
heard that the head was joining the HMC. Words like "grandiose"
and "ideas above his station" were heard.
>A big point was made at the school I attended that it was one
>of only two such schools overseas - namely Prince of Wales
>(in Kenya where I went) and Geelong in Australia (where
>Prince Charles spent some time IIRC).
I see that both The Geelong College and Geelong Grammar School
are members.
> Our cross-town
>rivals (Duke of York) were not so blessed, so we could look
>down our collective noses at them. And besides, we had
>at least one VC and a whole gaggle of DSO's and DFC's
>and George Crosses and so forth - much more than they
>had - but they hadn't been around as long, so not quite fair.
>
ObAsia/Middle East: the list of international members of HMC has
the following geographical groupings:
AFRICA
ASIA - Indonesia, Brunei, Hong Kong
INDIA
PAKISTAN
AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND
EUROPE
MIDDLE EAST - Oman[1], UAE
CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA
CANADA
BERMUDA
[1] The Indian School, Oman. There's cross-cultural for you,
boy. (Spoken with a poor Welsh accent)
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
<use...@REMOVETHISwhhvs.co.uk> wrote:
>On 20 Apr 2008, Nick Spalding wrote
>
>
>> I don't think the phrase 'major public school' is much used, if
>> at all. Like you I was at a minor one, Gresham's, which grew out
>> of a grammar school founded in 1555 in the early 20th century.
>
>"...grew out of a grammar school founded in 1555 in the early 20th
>century."
>
>Hmmm.....
It is logically decipherable but gardenpathish.
Nick Spalding
on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:24:18 -0400:
That's right. It was a bit of a let-down. My father had followed that
route in 1908 and it was assumed I would go the same way. We were rather
a naval family, pa had introduced two brother officers to two of my
mother's sisters to whom they got married and her brother started out in
the navy but switched to the RAF.
--
Nick Spalding
BrE/IrE
LFS
>
> That's right. It was a bit of a let-down. My father had followed that
> route in 1908 and it was assumed I would go the same way. We were rather
> a naval family, pa had introduced two brother officers to two of my
> mother's sisters to whom they got married and her brother started out in
> the navy but switched to the RAF.
I seem to be struggling with ambiguity at the moment. Were the officers
a pair of brothers or were they his "brothers in arms"?
Barbara Bailey
I believe they do. The vision standards for enlistment in the military is
"At least 20/400 or 20/200 vision corrected to 20/20 with eyeglasses or
contact lenses. Depth perception and color blindness is also tested.",
and all of the various academy homepages list "meeting military physical
requirements" as one of the criteria for entrance.
Nick Spalding
on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:43:10 +0100:
Brothers in arms. They all happened to be in ships based in Chatham which
is not far from where both my parents' family homes were, in villages a
couple of miles apart.
--
Nick Spalding
BrE/IrE
tony cooper
That seems to allow corrected vision, though. If Nick's eyesight was
good enough not to have been noticed before, then - surely - it would
have been correctable with glasses.
Nick Spalding
on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:26:54 -0400:
It was correctable but that wasn't good enough for the RN in those days
except for the Paymaster branch which did not attract me. Nowadays they
are less restrictive.
--
Nick Spalding
BrE/IrE
K. Edgcombe
Wood Avens <wood...@askjennison.com> wrote:
>>
>>But it wasn't, at the time, an independent school. (and I suspect it is still
>>not a public school, on the basis that girls' school had to be GPDST to be
>>called public schools (Girls' Public Day Schools Trust, I think)).
>>
>
>Surely not: there must have been (and probably still are, unless
>they've all gone co-educational) public schools for girls which aren't
>day schools. Wouldn't Roedean or Cheltenham Ladies College have
>counted as public schools?
Yes, sorry. I meant "girls' day schools had to be..." - and even then I am not
sure of my facts. But I would be surprised to hear my old school described as
a public school. Rather like the Perse Girls in Cambridge, it was a Direct
Grant school and reluctantly went private when the Direct Grant was abolished.
I don't think the Perse is a public school either.
Katy
Oleg Lego
On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:55:25 GMT, the Omrud posted:
My favourite way of handling security questions is where both the
question and answer are provided by the person who has to answer it.
It allows for questions that are virtually impossible to guess by any
means, yet can be very easily remembered.
The last time I supplied one, I chose the name of a person, where he
lived with relation to a town, and made the following Q&A:
Q: How far was Andy?
A: 12 miles west.
That was not, of course, the actual data, but you get the idea.
Mike Barnes
I'm not sure that my "last school attended" would be easy to discover.
Anyone here is welcome to have a crack at it.
"First school attended" is another question they ask.
Mike Barnes
>My favourite way of handling security questions is where both the
>question and answer are provided by the person who has to answer it.
>It allows for questions that are virtually impossible to guess by any
>means, yet can be very easily remembered.
>
>The last time I supplied one, I chose the name of a person, where he
>lived with relation to a town, and made the following Q&A:
>
>Q: How far was Andy?
>A: 12 miles west.
>
>That was not, of course, the actual data, but you get the idea.
My usual technique is to choose the names of a couple from the distant
past, e.g.
Q: Craig and who?
A: Elisabeth
the Omrud
I meant in my case, e.g. via Friends Re-untied.
--
David
Frank ess
Jitze wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:40:32 +0100, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)"
> <ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote:
>
>
>>
[ ... ]
>
> A big point was made at the school I attended that it was one
> of only two such schools overseas - namely Prince of Wales
> (in Kenya where I went) and Geelong in Australia (where
> Prince Charles spent some time IIRC). Our cross-town
> rivals (Duke of York) were not so blessed, so we could look
> down our collective noses at them. And besides, we had
> at least one VC and a whole gaggle of DSO's and DFC's
> and George Crosses and so forth - much more than they
> had - but they hadn't been around as long, so not quite fair.
>
> Jitze
" ... our collective noses ... "
?
--
Frank ess
Barbara Bailey
news:ctbp04lqrchut0g9g...@4ax.com:
I do much the same thing. My thinking is that the entity asking for it
will only know the answer *I gave*, not whether it's correct or not.
Since many banks still insist on "Mother's maiden name" as the question,
and that is no longer terribly difficult to find out, I haven't given
her correct name in years. The name one company has on record as my
mother's maiden name is really the name of my husband's third cat.
the Omrud
> Jitze wrote:
>
>> A big point was made at the school I attended that it was one
>> of only two such schools overseas - namely Prince of Wales
>> (in Kenya where I went) and Geelong in Australia (where
>> Prince Charles spent some time IIRC). Our cross-town
>> rivals (Duke of York) were not so blessed, so we could look
>> down our collective noses at them. And besides, we had
>> at least one VC and a whole gaggle of DSO's and DFC's
>> and George Crosses and so forth - much more than they
>> had - but they hadn't been around as long, so not quite fair.
>>
>> Jitze
>
> " ... our collective noses ... "
>
> ?
Not uncommon in UK English. I presume the meaning is pretty clear.
--
David
Frank ess
In 1954 the Naval Reserve Officer's Training program at U of Southern
Cal had a requirement. The counselors taught me how to cheat on the
exam.
Naval Science classes were invariably scheduled at 0700; it's where I
learned to sleep seated, with my eyes open and head erect.
--
Frank ess
Barbara Bailey
Not necessarily. There are two criteria there: that it not be worse
than 20/400 uncorrected, -and- that it be correctable to 20/20.
Anecdatum: I couldn't pass the vision exam for the military when I
graduated from high school -- my vision uncorrected at the time (decades
ago) was already worse than 20/400. I couldn't see the big "E" at the
top of the snellen chart--it was just a big, vaguely rectangular shape.
They wouldn't have me even though it could be corrected to 20/20.
Ray O'Hara
"Derek Turner" <frd...@cesmail.net> wrote in message
news:671kveF...@mid.individual.net...
> On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:36:22 -0500, Ray O'Hara wrote:
>
>
> >> My dear chap, if you need to ask...
> >
> > If you don't know you shouldn't reply.
>
> Sir, if you need to ask how much it costs you can't afford it. If you
> need to ask which are the major public schools then you are certainly not
> going to be sending your son to one of them: it is of no concern to you.
> If you want a sensible answer I suggest you find out which schools the
> Tory front bench and the members of the first division civil servants
> went to.
As I previously said. if you don't know don't answer.
Ray O'Hara
"tony cooper" <tony_co...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:5jjn0494sl3o2rj7m...@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:36:22 -0500, "Ray O'Hara"
> <mary.p...@rcn.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >"Derek Turner" <frd...@cesmail.net> wrote in message
> >> On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:32:04 -0400, tony cooper wrote:
> >>
> >> > While I do understand the phrase "He attended a minor public school",
I
> >> > find that I can't explain it very well. The problem is in not being
> >> > able to identify which are the *major*, or not minor, public schools.
> >>
> >>
> >> My dear chap, if you need to ask...
> >
> >If you don't know you shouldn't reply.
> >
>
> if you keep on this way.
>
> --
> Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
So far I've seen a legit question and 3 folks who can't answer make flip
replies the wrongly imagine are witty.
Par for the course here.
And if you actually read posts from the third worlders{Europeans and the
like} you'll see for all their bluster they know little.
J. J. Lodder
> On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:36:22 -0500, "Ray O'Hara"
> <mary.p...@rcn.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >"Derek Turner" <frd...@cesmail.net> wrote in message
> >news:671h2mF...@mid.individual.net...
> >> On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:32:04 -0400, tony cooper wrote:
> >>
> >> > While I do understand the phrase "He attended a minor public school", I
> >> > find that I can't explain it very well. The problem is in not being
> >> > able to identify which are the *major*, or not minor, public schools.
> >>
> >>
> >> My dear chap, if you need to ask...
> >
> >If you don't know you shouldn't reply.
> >
>
> Bad show, Ray. You're just going to prove that thing about Americans
> if you keep on this way.
Don't quibble.
It was a nice exchange,
and it demonstrated precisely
what was to be demonstrated,
Jan
Paul Wolff
>On 20 Apr, 23:20, Paul Wolff <bounc...@two.wolff.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> contrex <mike.j.har...@gmail.com> wrote
>>
>> >I went to Alleyns, which is undoubtedly minor
>
>> Others close to the upper echelons include
>> ... Dulwich ...
>
>> Dulwich College is interesting in relation to Mike's Alleyn's
>>School, because both were
>> founded (as far as I know, but I could be wrong) by James Alleyn,
>
>Edward Alleyn founded Alleyn's School. In 1619 he established his
>"College of God's Gift" (the gift of love) with twelve students.
>Alleyn's School is a direct descendant of Edward Alleyn's original
>foundation and was established as a boys' school in 1882. It still
>exists as part of a foundation alongside Dulwich College. It split
>with Dulwich College after the "Dulwich College Act" of 1857, with the
>upper school of the original foundation moving to a new site further
>south and the lower school (now Alleyns) staying put, becoming an
>independent boys school in 1882 and later also moving to its own site.
>
>> who also founded a girls' school (called, by a quirky coincidence, James
>> Alleyn's School),
>
>It's called James Allen's Girls School (JAGS). It is part of the
>Alleyn's College foundation alongside Dulwich College and Alleyn's
>School. It was founded by a Master of Dulwich College, James Allen, in
>1741, as a free reading school for the local poor.
Thanks for the corrections. I ought to have been more accurate, because
my goddaughter went to JAGS and my nephew to Dulwich.
>
>> and the Dulwich former pupils, or Old Boys, call
>> themselves Old Alleynians, which confuses me no end when I meet them,
>> since Alleyns was a football opponent.
>
>Alleyns former pupils in my day (harrumph) called themselves Alleyn
>Old Boys and had AOB after their name in school publications. Since
>1975 the school has been coed so you have Alleyn Old Girls, AOGs, as
>well.
--
Paul
tony cooper
<mary.p...@rcn.com> wrote:
>
>"tony cooper" <tony_co...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>news:5jjn0494sl3o2rj7m...@4ax.com...
>> On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:36:22 -0500, "Ray O'Hara"
>> <mary.p...@rcn.com> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> >"Derek Turner" <frd...@cesmail.net> wrote in message
>> >news:671h2mF...@mid.individual.net...
>> >> On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:32:04 -0400, tony cooper wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > While I do understand the phrase "He attended a minor public school",
>I
>> >> > find that I can't explain it very well. The problem is in not being
>> >> > able to identify which are the *major*, or not minor, public schools.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> My dear chap, if you need to ask...
>> >
>> >If you don't know you shouldn't reply.
>> >
>>
>> Bad show, Ray. You're just going to prove that thing about Americans
>> if you keep on this way.
>>
>> --
>> Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
>
>So far I've seen a legit question and 3 folks who can't answer make flip
>replies the wrongly imagine are witty.
>Par for the course here.
>
>And if you actually read posts from the third worlders{Europeans and the
>like} you'll see for all their bluster they know little.
>
Well, as the OP and the question-asker, I think the answers have been
rather good. It's not like I expected that very specific answers
would have been possible. The line between "minor" and whatever is
above "minor" is not likely to be carved in stone.
Drifting a bit...I notice (not here, but elsewhere) that some Brits
can manage to say "Oh, mine was a very minor public school" while
somehow implying that their school was not minor at all. Sort of a
false diffidence. The impression they give is that their school,
while not a major name in schools, was indeed exclusive but that the
hearer is not the right sort to have even heard about it.
A bit like the person who says they worked for the government but
aren't at liberty to say in what capacity.
millal...@googlemail.com
> On 20 Apr, 19:32, tony cooper <tony_cooper...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> > While I do understand the phrase "He attended a minor public school",
> > I find that I can't explain it very well. The problem is in not being
> > able to identify which are the *major*, or not minor, public schools.
>
> > might be "minor"? Is there a bracket above "minor" but not quite
> > "major"?
>
> About 99.9% (see below)
>
> I went to Alleyns, which is undoubtedly minor, (None of R.E. L
> maunsell's 'Schools' class of Southern Railway locomotives was named
> after it) (Maunsell was educated at the Royal School, Armagh)
>
>
>
> > Last, what is the opposite of "minor"?
>
> Public schools are often divided into "major" and "minor", but these
> are not official definitions and the inclusion of a school in one or
> the other group is purely subjective. One definition might be those
> schools whose ex-pupils are entitled to join the Butterflies Cricket
> Club which was founded by an old Rugbiean. Only players who came from
> what were and are considered the major public schools were allowed to
> play. The schools included Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Marlborough,
> Oakham, Rugby, Westminster and Winchester. Apart from those eight,
> there are over 2500 independent schools in the UK.
This list should include St Paul's, I think, and Radley - possibly
even Gordonstoun. I went to Malvern (on the cusp of greatness,
possibly, though I'd not judge it so). One should also consider the
mem sahibs, educated at such luminous establishment as Cheltenham
Ladies' College, Roedean and others.
Leslie Danks
[...]
> Drifting a bit...I notice (not here, but elsewhere) that some Brits
> can manage to say "Oh, mine was a very minor public school" while
> somehow implying that their school was not minor at all. Sort of a
> false diffidence. The impression they give is that their school,
> while not a major name in schools, was indeed exclusive but that the
> hearer is not the right sort to have even heard about it.
I really think he's got it!
[...]
--
Les
John Varela
(in article <dhbhq7bD...@34klh41lk4h1lk34h3lk4h1k4.invalid>):
> I'm not sure that my "last school attended" would be easy to discover. Anyone
> here is welcome to have a crack at it.
Army radar school.
--
John Varela
Trade NEW lamps for OLD for email.
R H Draney
>
>My usual technique is to choose the names of a couple from the distant
>past, e.g.
>
>Q: Craig and who?
>A: Elisabeth
"Right" answer for anyone who's done any home recording is "erton"....r
--
What good is being an executive if you never get to execute anyone?
R H Draney
>
>On 20 Apr 2008, Nick Spalding wrote
>
>
>> I don't think the phrase 'major public school' is much used, if
>> at all. Like you I was at a minor one, Gresham's, which grew out
>> of a grammar school founded in 1555 in the early 20th century.
>
>century."
>
>Hmmm.....
And some people say there was no millennium bug!...r
John Varela
(in article <2a9p045o2ugng63sk...@4ax.com>):
>> That seems to allow corrected vision, though. If Nick's eyesight was
>> good enough not to have been noticed before, then - surely - it would
>> have been correctable with glasses.
>
> It was correctable but that wasn't good enough for the RN in those days
> except for the Paymaster branch which did not attract me. Nowadays they are
> less restrictive.
Most likely the criteria vary with the number of applicants relative to the
number of openings.
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
Fot those of us Brits who didn't go to a public school the
question of whether a public school is major or minor is of
purely academic interest.
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
Jonathan Morton
news:dhbhq7bD...@34klh41lk4h1lk34h3lk4h1k4.invalid...
> In alt.usage.english, the Omrud wrote:
>>Mike Barnes wrote:
>>
>>> [1] I'm being deliberately vague because "the last school attended" has
>>> been used a security question.
>>
>>Interesting. One of my banks uses "first school attended". My last
>>school attended would be simplicity itself to discover, although the
>>name was so long and subject to change during my 7 years there, I could
>>write it in all sorts of different ways.
>
> I'm not sure that my "last school attended" would be easy to discover.
> Anyone here is welcome to have a crack at it.
I thought the 1557 was Repton - not sure about the 1850s one, though.
Regards
Jonathan
Jonathan Morton
news:1buo0496vpc9aj814...@4ax.com...
>> Gresham's? Too late for Benjamin Britten then. That's the end of my
>> knowledge about the school.
>> Stephen Fry
I thought Fry was Uppingham.
> I see Thomas Stuttaford, a medical correspondent for The Times and the
> Oldie, was born the same year as me so must have been there at the same
> time but I have no recollection of him.
His son was at school with me.
Regards
Jonathan
Jonathan Morton
news:95187d3d-56fe-40b1...@l42g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...>> I don't know how Oakham found its way into Mike
>> contrex's list (I don't know anyone from Oakham, for goodness' sake) ,
>
> It was in a list I found on Google.
It may have been, but I strongly suggest it is wrong. Oakham was a direct
grant school which went fully-independent in the late 60s (when the then
Labour administration abolished the direct grant status). It's a good school
but not in the league of the others on the list.
The compiler may have been mixing Oakham up with Oundle.
Regards
Jonathan
Glenn Knickerbocker
> Drifting a bit...I notice (not here, but elsewhere) that some Brits
> can manage to say "Oh, mine was a very minor public school" while
> somehow implying that their school was not minor at all.
I'm sure plenty of Americans who go to lesser-known small, elite colleges
like Bard and Swarthmore have a similar ability.
ŹR
the Omrud
> "Nick Spalding" <spal...@iol.ie> wrote in message
> news:1buo0496vpc9aj814...@4ax.com...
>
>>> Gresham's? Too late for Benjamin Britten then. That's the end of my
>>> knowledge about the school.
>>> Stephen Fry
>
> I thought Fry was Uppingham.
I don't have any interest in the private lives of celebrities.
--
David
Jonathan Morton
news:Na7Pj.12613$yD2....@text.news.virginmedia.com...
<applause...>
Garrett Wollman
Wood Avens <wood...@askjennison.com> wrote:
>For Tony's further enlightenment, though, I have to point out that
>ancientness of foundation doesn't mean that one can assume that a
>school is a public school, even a minor one. The comprehensive (=
>state-run, non-selective) school which educated my children was
>founded in 1575.
The oldest public (AmE sense) high school in the U.S. is Boston Latin
School, which was founded in 1635 (while Boston itself dates to 1630).
Boston Latin is the most selective of the three "exam schools" in the
Boston city school system.
There are other odd cases. Not far from where I grew up, the city and
town of St. Albans, Vermont, share Bellows Free Academy, which was
(until 2005 according to what I've been able to discover) a private
high school to which the school district sent all of its eligible
students, in lieu of operating its own public high school.
-GAWollman
--
Garrett A. Wollman | The real tragedy of human existence is not that we are
wol...@csail.mit.edu| nasty by nature, but that a cruel structural asymmetry
Opinions not those | grants to rare events of meanness such power to shape
of MIT or CSAIL. | our history. - S.J. Gould, Ten Thousand Acts of Kindness
Glenn Knickerbocker
> Interesting. One of my banks uses "first school attended". My last
> school attended would be simplicity itself to discover
Not to mention potentially variable over time, though possibly not as
much so as "favorite pet"--an actual security question that took me more
than a day to puzzle out the right answer to a few years later. I can't
imagine how anyone ever keeps track of even more ephemeral answers like
favorite movies or songs.
ŹR
Default User
I hate any questions that are opinion-based. One institution allowed
you write your own question answer pairs. This was good, because they
could be factual but obscure, like, "what model was the red truck?"
That I know off the top of my head, but would be difficult for a
scammer to determine.
Brian
--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)
Sara Lorimer
> In alt.usage.english, the Omrud wrote:
> >Interesting. One of my banks uses "first school attended". My last
> >school attended would be simplicity itself to discover, although the
> >name was so long and subject to change during my 7 years there, I could
> >write it in all sorts of different ways.
>
> I'm not sure that my "last school attended" would be easy to discover.
> Anyone here is welcome to have a crack at it.
>
> "First school attended" is another question they ask.
I've never been asked about my school as a security question. Is it a
Pondian thing?
The usual ones I run into are my mother's maiden name, the name of my
pet, or my birthplace (all of which I've divulged in AUE, whoops).
--
SML
Mike Lyle
> On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:36:22 -0500, "Ray O'Hara"
> <mary.p...@rcn.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> "Derek Turner" <frd...@cesmail.net> wrote in message
>> news:671h2mF...@mid.individual.net...
>>>
>>>> While I do understand the phrase "He attended a minor public
>>>> school", I find that I can't explain it very well. The problem is
>>>> in not being able to identify which are the *major*, or not minor,
>>>> public schools.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> If you don't know you shouldn't reply.
>>
>
> Bad show, Ray. You're just going to prove that thing about Americans
> if you keep on this way.
I don't think anybody's ever accused him of being typical.
Anyhow, as a broad-brush answer, if nearly everybody in the country's
heard of a public school, it's major, and if hardly anybody has, it's
minor. I'd say the in-between group is nearer major than minor. "Minor"
does /not/ denote inferior quality of education, though there are some
seriously dim dumps.
"Major" is certainly Eton, Winchester, Harrow; after that I'm not at all
sure, but probably add Charterhouse, Clifton, Fettes, Cheltenham, and a
couple I can't think of offhand; then Shrewsbury, Radley, Gordonstoun,
Rugby etc.
--
Mike.
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **
JF
<fr...@fshe2fs.com> writes
>Naval Science classes were invariably scheduled at 0700; it's where I
>learned to sleep seated, with my eyes open and head erect.
I toyed with the idea of applying for a commission in the navy. I was
told that a military bearing would be a help so I stole a Timken roller
thrust race out of an army field gun.
I'll get my coat.
--
James Follett. Novelist
the Omrud
I taught myself the answer to "favourite place". The answer is a place,
but it's not likely that anybody would guess it.
--
David
Mike Barnes
>On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:52:35 -0400, Mike Barnes wrote
>(in article <dhbhq7bD...@34klh41lk4h1lk34h3lk4h1k4.invalid>):
>
>> I'm not sure that my "last school attended" would be easy to
>>discover. Anyone
>
>> here is welcome to have a crack at it.
>
>Army radar school.
No... I'm not sure it's really worth anyone's time and effort. Or did I
miss a joke?
--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England
Mike Barnes
Indeed, Googling "school" "founded" "1557" throws up (1) this thread,
and (2) a lot of hits for Repton, and (3) considerably fewer hits for
Brentwood (rating: very minor), where I unknowingly rubbed shoulders
with Douglas Adams, Jack Straw, and Noel Edmonds.
> - not sure about the 1850s one, though.
Not really worth bothering with.
Mike Barnes
>Mike Barnes filted:
>>
>>My usual technique is to choose the names of a couple from the distant
>>past, e.g.
>>
>>Q: Craig and who?
>>A: Elisabeth
>
>"Right" answer for anyone who's done any home recording is "erton"....r
:-)
Never heard of him before. Not sure he's my thing, really.
Mike Barnes
If you tell everyone the same favourite place, therein lies a weakness.
the Omrud
Indeed. As far as I can remember, only one of my online servcies asks
this question, which is why I had to spend some time teaching myself to
remember what I'd answered.
--
David
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
"Peyton Place"?
the Omrud
Not very likely, really, as I never saw it. Chips and place?
--
David
Leslie Danks
Someone I once knew always claimed he was refused entry to the police
because of his eyes. They were too close to the ground.
--
Les
Fred Springer
Sara Lorimer
"Right earlobe"?
--
SML
Robert Bannister
I intended to try to sell my last computer, so I changed the master
password. Months went by before I thought about doing something, and I
thought I'd better check I had deleted everything properly. Couldn't
remember the password. My secret question was "hot stuff"; I tried in 4
languages various synonyms for "hot", plus a whole load of rude words
without success. In the end, I dumped the computer at the next verge
side rubbish collection.
--
Rob Bannister
Bob Cunningham
True story: Believe it or not, I've had trouble because of
giving my mother's maiden name. Her mother, named Foote,
died in childbirth, and she grew up in the home of her
grandparents, named White. Later in life she sometimes
called herself Sarah Foote and other times, Sarah White. If
I remember having given one of them, it sometimes turns out
to have been the other one.
Oleg Lego
On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:19:44 +0200 (CEST), Barbara Bailey posted:
>Oleg Lego <r...@atatatat.com> wrote in
>news:ctbp04lqrchut0g9g...@4ax.com:
>
>>
>> On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:55:25 GMT, the Omrud posted:
>>
>>>Mike Barnes wrote:
>>>
>>>> [1] I'm being deliberately vague because "the last school attended"
>>>> has been used a security question.
>>>
>>>Interesting. One of my banks uses "first school attended". My last
>>>school attended would be simplicity itself to discover, although the
>>>name was so long and subject to change during my 7 years there, I
>>>could write it in all sorts of different ways.
>>
>> My favourite way of handling security questions is where both the
>> question and answer are provided by the person who has to answer it.
>> It allows for questions that are virtually impossible to guess by any
>> means, yet can be very easily remembered.
>>
>> The last time I supplied one, I chose the name of a person, where he
>> lived with relation to a town, and made the following Q&A:
>>
>> Q: How far was Andy?
>> A: 12 miles west.
>>
>> That was not, of course, the actual data, but you get the idea.
>
>I do much the same thing. My thinking is that the entity asking for it
>will only know the answer *I gave*, not whether it's correct or not.
>Since many banks still insist on "Mother's maiden name" as the question,
>and that is no longer terribly difficult to find out, I haven't given
>her correct name in years. The name one company has on record as my
>mother's maiden name is really the name of my husband's third cat.
The next sound you hear will be my hand, slapping my forehead. It
always bothers me when I see such easily figured out questions. I
never thought to provide an answer that was not easy to figure out.
Thanks!
jerry_f...@yahoo.com
[> contrex <mike.j.har...@gmail.com> wrote]
>
> >On 20 Apr, 19:32, tony cooper <tony_cooper...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> >> While I do understand the phrase "He attended a minor public school",
> >> I find that I can't explain it very well. The problem is in not being
> >> able to identify which are the *major*, or not minor, public schools.
> >> Last, what is the opposite of "minor"?
...
> Reverting to the question, you'd be pretty safe contrasting 'good' with
> 'minor'.
I was hoping the antonym was "pukka", but reality insists on not
conforming to my hopes.
--
Jerry Friedman
Oleg Lego
On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:39:01 GMT, the Omrud posted:
In the spirit of Barbara's technique, I can think of many a good
answer to that one.