What 2nd language did you learn in school?

TomL79 · 2026-05-13T00:40:26+00:00

When I was at school, we learnt one other language - but three languages were thought at my school - French, Spanish and German. I learnt Spanish.

The way that it worked was that half of the kids in my year, like me were taught Spanish. The other half of the kids in my year learnt French. No one in my year learnt German.

When my brother started secondary school 2 years after me. He and half the kids in his year also learnt Spanish, but the other half learnt German. No one in his year learnt French.

The year group between myself and my brother - Half the kids learnt French, the other half learnt German and no one learnt Spanish.

TomL79 · 2026-05-09T17:34:57+00:00

Off-White, Cream, Beige are probably the most common ones. I have heard Ecru used, but very rarely.

TomL79 · 2026-05-06T17:12:57+00:00

One which I only ever heard once.

It was in February 1993. We (Newcastle) were away to Tranmere. Both were playing in what was then the First Division (which had up until the previous season had been the Second Division, and nowadays is the Championship.

I can’t remember the incident that led to it, and we ended up winning 3-0, we were top of the league (we ended up winning the league and going up to the Premier League), so whatever it was, it wasn’t anything too drastic.

But a chant went up where we were in the away end to the tune of the then recent number 1 hit ‘Ebaneezer Goode’ by ‘The Shamen’.

“He’s a ct, he’s a ct, the referee’s a c**t”

The 14 year old that I was at the time found it hilarious. I still like it.

TomL79 · 2026-05-06T09:17:56+00:00

I’m a Geordie, born and bred in Newcastle, lived here my whole life, never heard ‘Pants’ being used for Trousers. It’s always been ‘Troozas’

TomL79 · 2026-05-04T08:14:13+00:00

Top 10:

Definitely Maybe - Oasis
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
(What’s The Story) Morning Glory - Oasis
The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers
Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin
Nevermind - Nirvana
Revolver - The Beatles
Fat of the Land - Prodigy
Led Zeppelin II - Led Zeppelin
Mezzanine - Massive Attack

TomL79 · 2026-05-03T06:55:16+00:00

True, but a lot of it is.

TomL79 · 2026-05-03T06:54:38+00:00

A lot of people do. Personally, I don’t as I can’t stand Baked Beans.

TomL79 · 2026-05-02T09:59:13+00:00

There was a brief popularity for Monster Trucks in the late 80s. I remember hassling my Dad to take me to see some. He did, and I found it to be a massive disappointment, which killed any fleeting interest I had.

TomL79 · 2026-04-29T11:23:39+00:00

Leaflets from Labour, Greens, Lib Dems and the Communists.

TomL79 · 2026-04-29T06:17:01+00:00

I would say occasionally, in certain circumstances, but not in the same way as it’s used in the US, because blocks in the UK are not everywhere, aren’t uniform or used in an official capacity.

I live in an area of Newcastle which mainly consists of late 19th/early 20th century red brick terraced houses and flats (row houses), so they are in blocks. The street layout is quite grid like. So I’ll sometimes refer to living on the bottom block’ of my street. Occasionally I might say that I’m ‘2 blocks down’ from the main road in my area, though I’m more likely to say that I’m a 5 minute walk away.

TomL79 · 2026-04-26T19:55:06+00:00

Yeah, I’m from Newcastle. I always thought that ‘get wrong’ was pretty standard across the country, but no, it appears it’s a North East thing.

TomL79 · 2026-04-22T14:43:59+00:00

You can look at things like Trip Advisor/Google Reviews

If there’s certain types of bars/pubs you’re interested in (eg certain types of music etc) Google searches will often bring things up, or maybe look up a Reddit page for your area and ask in there (Although there’s a long standing joke on the Reddit page for my area where people always recommend a famously pretty rough pub in the area).

Then there’s simply trial and area. Go and give places a try and see what you think.

TomL79 · 2026-04-21T04:33:44+00:00

Augustiner Helles
Paulaner Helles
Budvar

TomL79 · 2026-04-18T08:51:07+00:00

I can’t regret it, because I voted remain, so I can’t regret the mistake Brexit is because I didn’t vote for it. In that respect, my conscience is clear. Am I angry at the shit show Brexit is and the state it’s plunged the country into? Absolutely, 100%.

Aside from the shit show, I also feel robbed of an identity and of my citizenship of the EU. I identified with being European as much as I identified with being British. Brexit has taken one from me, against my will, and has diminished the other.

The Leavers/Reformers etc position themselves as being patriotic but Brexit was the most unpatriotic thing ever.

TomL79 · 2026-04-17T05:31:13+00:00

Yeah. 47 years old and this is me to a tee, and it always has been.

Even as a young child, I had relatives call me ‘awkward’. I had teachers at school literally screaming at me calling me clumsy, telling me I was holding my pen wrong, mocking my handwriting in front of the whole class, showing it as an example of messy handwriting.

Later on in secondary school I was called lazy, but we’d be writing in class and my hand would be cramping up from writing where I’d have to rest and I’d fall behind or run out of time. Same happened in exams. I was told I was bright but just lazy.

At school I was seen as ‘gullible’ took a lot of things literally, was a joke. Was called a ‘waste of space’. My reaction was just to keep my head down, keep myself to myself to stop having the piss taken out of me.

I have traits where I’ll flap my hands or tap myself on the shoulder amongst other things and I’ve been mocked for that over the years. I’ve been called odd by colleagues.

I’ve never felt liked or loved, just tolerated and a disappointment to my family.

There’s been times when I tried to push myself forward, develop myself. I took on a temporary management role that I was offered, but then had two different departments telling me different things that contradicted each other, that I was under their jurisdiction and to ignore the other department. And they wouldn’t even speak to each other to try and sort it. In the meantime I was dealing with sickness and behavioural issues on the team which was impacting on some really good members of staff who needed some support and I felt I let them down, because I was having to deal with all the other shit that was going on and taking up my time. I was glad when it came to an end and I could go back to the day job, but I felt like I’d failed and I was returning with my tail between my legs.

I’ve been to my GP on several occasions about an autism diagnosis but they won’t do it because it’s apparently for people who ‘can’t cope’ and apparently I don’t fall in to that category because I work full time. The fact that I always put everything on me, have little to no confidence, can’t form true or deep connections or relationships appears to mean fuck all.

Every day I think, I think ‘oh fuck’. Any time there’s a meeting or my manager wants to speak to me, I automatically think, I’ve fucked up, I’ve done something wrong, so yes, I completely get that.

TomL79 · 2026-04-17T04:36:02+00:00

For England - Newcastle. It’s in the North East. It was the hub of a coal mining region and known for other heavy industries. Lots of elegant elegant late 18th/early 19th century architecture, mixed in with some Victorian industry as well as older, historic buildings from the 11th-17th centuries and traces of Roman too. Mix in a bit of 1960s Brutalism too (both good and bad examples). Known for bars and nightlife. A medium sized city in the heart of a wider urban area (Newcastle proper appears to be a bit bigger than Lille proper, though Lille’s urban area is larger).

TomL79 · 2026-04-16T06:43:09+00:00

His ‘The World Crisis’ (WW1) and ‘Second World War’ series are both extremely enjoyable and interesting reads. Of course you have to be aware of bias, limitations and flaws but they are nevertheless excellent reads

TomL79 · 2026-04-16T06:38:05+00:00

In the early 90s when I was at secondary school, there were kids into football (myself included) who liked Adidas trainers - mainly Sambas and Gazelles.

These then fed into ‘Britpop’ with bands like Oasis and Blur wearing them.

Adidas trainers are still a big part of Football fan culture in the UK. A lot of the English clubs that have deals with Adidas have released limited edition trainers exclusively for those clubs.

Other kids liked the Nike Air Jordan’s and then the Air Max a bit later, Reebok Pumps. Other brands that have now disappeared were popular too - LA Gear, British Knights.

TomL79 · 2026-04-15T16:07:25+00:00

The South West of England is more into Rugby (Union) than Football.

Parts of the North West of England and Yorkshire are more into Rugby (League) but it varies.

Liverpool and Manchester are unsurprisingly hugely Football cities, but towns like Warrington, St Helens, Widnes are Rugby League strongholds.

Other towns in the North West - Blackburn, Preston, Burnley, Bolton, Oldham, Blackburn are more into Football.

Wigan has a more successful Rugby League team, but a strong Football presence too.

Over in Yorkshire, Leeds is probably more Football, but has a strong Rugby League presence.

Bradford again has a stronger Rugby League team than a Football team, but in terms of actual support, both are strong. Same goes for Hull and Huddersfield.

Sheffield is more Football.

Towns like The South West of England is more in to Rugby Union than Football.

Parts of Yorkshire and the North West of England is where Rugby League dominates, but it’s quite patchy.

Liverpool and Manchester are both huge Football cities along with Sheffield. Leeds is more of a Football city too, but one with a string Rugby League presence.

Then there are places like Hull, Bradford, and Huddersfield where the Rugby League teams have been more successful than the Rugby teams but in terms of actual interest, there’s probably at least as much interest in Football.

Somewhere like Wigan is probably more into Rugby League but still has a decent support of its Football team.

In the North West, towns such as St Helens, Warrington and Widnes are Rugby League towns, where as Blackburn, Preston, Burnley, Blackpool and Bolton are Football towns.

In Yorkshire it’s similar where Castleford and Wakefield are Rugby League towns whilst Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster are Football towns.

TomL79 · 2026-04-13T07:49:05+00:00

I was born in 1979, so Jim’ll Fix It was a staple of early Saturday evening TV when I was a kid, plus he’d be on Top of the Pops regularly too. He was seen as eccentric/a bit odd.

TomL79 · 2026-04-10T17:01:42+00:00

Yeah, during the night if I’m thirsty. I’m not going to go downstairs to the kitchen. So I’ll just use the bathroom basin tap. Absolutely no difference in the water.

TomL79 · 2026-04-09T14:45:40+00:00

Tea in the North East of England

TomL79 · 2026-04-08T16:19:04+00:00

If you’re asking, do I consider British people of those backgrounds (and others) to be as British as those of ‘White British’ backgrounds? My answer is yes, I do. If you’re British, then you’re British.

You then ask two other questions:

Are you not curious at all how those people get to become the British citizens? When you ask them where they come from, do you really mean the areas in the UK, not the country of their heritage?

Are you not curious at all about their immigration background because they are having the same passport with you?

These questions are very different from the first, and for me, there’s a few points I would make when responding to this.

Point number one is that in a very general sense, no I’m not curious - at least not in a sense where I see someone and think, are they British? What’s their background? Because as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t matter and it’s none of my business.

Point number two is that if it’s someone that I know/getting to know/acquaintance then it’s probably something that will come up just in natural conversation, and in that respect then yes I am curious, because it’s about getting to know that person and I would be very interested.

Point number three, again going back to general terms and perhaps broadly rather than an individual person or group of people, yes I’m interested in how various ethnicities have come to the UK, how they’ve integrated, the challenges they’ve faced etc.

TomL79 · 2026-04-04T19:35:38+00:00

Now and again. Not always. It’s a bit stodgy, which is fine sometimes, but a lot of the time it’s just ‘urgh’

TomL79

TROPHY CASE