There are an insane number of graduations over here now. And people have parties for them all. Just ridiculous.

I remember 8th Grade graduation (due to the arrangement of schools in my district, this would have been a combination middle school/junior high setup). It seemed very dumb, and I was too busy being terrified of going to the big high school in town and having to go from class to class instead of the teachers changing rooms, like I'd been used to.

I know in my home town two generations ago they were miners so 8th grade graduation was the end of schooling for a lot of them.

But kindergarten graduation makes me roll my eyes for.ev.ah.

But then we have almost no organised stuff at school. No proms. No cheerleading. No going to watch the school team play football. No pep squad. No school newspaper/TV show. We just have smoking behind the bike sheds &

School Spirit is an entirely alien concept in the UK. It's the difference in our approach to Buffy, I think; the idea of vampires isn't that much more far fetched than the idea of electing a couple to (as I understand it) wear tiaras and ritually copulate once a term.

the idea of electing a couple to (as I understand it) wear tiaras and ritually copulate once a term

Well, only the one member of the couple wears a tiara.

(and hey, you people started the Maypole dance!)

I was on my school hockey team, and until you mentioned it, Jim, I hadn't realised that no one came to watch us play, ever.

It's not like we expected it, or anything. I hadn't thought about it as a spectator sport, even though we were representing our school in the Trust.

We had a school magazine, printed once a year, and SHAM, the South Hampstead Alternative Magazine, printed by students once a year, and for which we got in trouble.

But, yeah -- no rah! no pep! no rallies. I still don't get those.

I always summed it up by comparing the US teen films everyone knows:Pretty In Pink, Ferris, Say Anything, Clueless with the british ones: Kes, Scum & Poor Cow.

I mocked my sister when she was stressing over getting ready for her students' graduation...from kindergarten. Up until my co-worker mentioned that his daughter's school (a public school but only accepts gifted students) has a graduation ceremony for each year. He was attending her 3rd-grade graduation. He assured me that it would make sense when I had kids, but it does not.

Anyway, so books, yeah. We had those in school too. A few. The ones that weren't burnt.

Question on HP books. I was discussing the books with with someone at work. He mentioned the British terms that are now (finally) appearing in the US versions. He thought "snogging" meant something more that just "kissing". I thought it meant kissing and did not imply sex.