For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
By Nomad63
#1569074
[Warning G.O.M whinge ahead]

Do kids today know anything about the origin of what is now called Bonfire night or even just Fireworks night?

When I were a lad around this time of year you couldn't walk down the high street of any town without encountering half a dozen small groups of lads and lasses with their home made Guys requesting a penny
I can't remember seeing one for about 10 years now



.
By Colonel Panic
#1569141
I think that target audience has been Americanised & Commercialised, and Halloween is much more important (& comes first anyway). More profitable to demand £10 with menaces than putting effort in to making, & begging for a penny for, a Guy?
By Chris Martyr
#1569149
Russ_H wrote: small groups of lads and lasses with their home made Guys .


There you see Russ , you've answered your own question mate... :D

You mean there's not an App for that..?.. :lol:

Can you imagine WH Smith stocking a modern day range of Nov5th accessories ? Health & Safety compliant , flameproof Guys stuffed with non-combustible straw.. :lol:

Can you imagine if the Yanks got hold of it and made it into the farce , like their perception of what we once called All Hallows' Eve .
" Hey , this guy forks night sure is fun". They could all sit around stuffing themselves with food as a pre-cursor to Thanksgiving.. :clown:
By Bill Haddow
#1569163
Russ_H wrote:
Do kids today know anything about the origin of what is now called Bonfire night or even just Fireworks night?
.


From my post in the Hallowe'en thread : -

Because years ago the Beeb, with pusillanimous political correctness running amok, replaced the historically accurate description "Guy Fawkes" with the anodyne "Bonfire Night"

Bill H
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1569168
Kids are taught very little these days except how to pass exams and tests to help schools position in the league tables.

Having had a 50s/60s education and I am shocked at the ignorance displayed by many younger folk who seem to know nothing except what they read in Hello! magazine :-(
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By Bill Haddow
#1569171
johnm wrote:Having had a 50s/60s education and I am shocked at the ignorance displayed by many younger folk who seem to know nothing except what they read in Hello! magazine :-(


A couple of years back I was being served by a young barmaid who was an undergraduate (cannot remember what degree she was doing) and my passing reference to the spirit gantry as "Spartan" was met with a look of blank incomprehension. I didn't expect to hear her quote Ὦ ξεῖν', ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.
but I did think that she would at least have heard of the Spartans.

I was tempted to tell her that they were a 70s German rock band ...

Bill H
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By Chris Martyr
#1569184
Bill Haddow wrote:I was tempted to tell her that they were a 70s German rock band ...

Bill H


Hey Bill , are you sure you don't mean The Scorpions ... :thumleft:
By Bill Haddow
#1569205
Chris Martyr wrote:
Bill Haddow wrote:I was tempted to tell her that they were a 70s German rock band ...

Bill H


Hey Bill , are you sure you don't mean The Scorpions ... :thumleft:


It was the fact that there was a German rock band called The Scorpions that gave me the idea !

Bill H
User avatar
By kanga
#1569206
johnm wrote:Kids are taught very little these days except how to pass exams and tests to help schools position in the league tables...


er, not true of the many school groups, mostly KS1/2 (primary) but some KS3 (secondary) who come to JAM. It is IMHO absurd that we have to provide the teachers with elaborate paperwork (which we have prepared, helpfully printed for us by the graphics folk at one of the many local aviation companies :thumright: ) to prove to the next Ofsted Inspectors that the content of the visit ticked some boxes in the National Curriculum; and that if the teachers could not prove that the school might be marked down at the Inspection :cry: .. but the children who come in such groups do already know something about history in general and loocal and local aviation history in particular: the teachers have done a good job preparing them. It is a great pity that they are not trusted more by Ministers.

[and how nice to see Classical Greek, correctly accented, in the Forums :) ; first time since Keef ? .. and he admitted he was better at New Testament Greek, unsurprisingly. Μηδὲν ἄγαν ]
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By Chris Martyr
#1569261
Bill Haddow wrote: Ὦ ξεῖν', ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.Bill H


Well , I must say that I feel somewhat humbled by that one Bill.
kanga wrote:and how nice to see Classical Greek, correctly accented, in the Forums :) ; first time since Keef ? .. and he admitted he was better at New Testament Greek, unsurprisingly. Μηδὲν ἄγαν ]

All of a sudden , I get the impression that I'm a pygmy amongst giants.

Perhaps I should desist in denigrating the educations of others and maybe look to my own.
Or maybe just stick to the GA section with the other philistines . :D
By Chris Martyr
#1569269
ChrisRowland wrote:If all else fails copy the quotation into Google, it's quite appropriate for Remembrance day.


Well , I would do Chris , but "my keyboard" isn't bright enough to do it .. :oops:

But my Dad was involved in the Normandy landings [le debarquement] , so I'll see if I can just get by using a bit of good old mother tongue... :D

PS. And it would've definitely been all Chinese to him... :D