Bless!

[jadesfire]

If a)I had a phone with a decent camera and b)it wasn't almost certainly illegal, I would be taking pictures of the small people (infants class - about 8-10, I'd guess) walking past my window dressed as Roman soldiers. They have cardboard swords and everything! So far I've seen 4 infantry, lots of togas, someone I think is meant to be a Briton, complete with tartan PJ trousers and someone in a silver cape.

Oh! And also, yesterday at the zoo we saw a tiny person (about 3) dressed in a wonderful matching hat and mac combo - it was purple with flowers on! WANT!

...I think it's official that the unseasonal weather* is going to my head...

*It's the British summer. Where's the hailstorm, cloud-cover and general misery?

Comments

[smtfhw.livejournal.com]

_{*It's the British summer. Where's the hailstorm, cloud-cover and general misery?}

I think the magic Wimbledon roof sunshade is affecting the entire country...

[tiggothy.livejournal.com]

Nope, we're still getting our regular doses of rain here in Wales :-)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Heh, sorry about that. Maybe it's just the English weather that's affected...

[tiggothy.livejournal.com]

Lol, it's ok. Saves me having to water the garden :-) It was a tad annoying yesterday though, raining on us just as we were finishing sailing - but we're kind of used to it anyway :-)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Heh, yes, that could be it...

[phinnia.livejournal.com]

that is absolutely charming. <3

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

They were completely and utterly adorable. Two of them even had the helmets with plumes on.

Of course, then they started hitting each other with the swords and it all got a bit ugly, but until then, very sweet ;)

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

I keep forgetting that infants can be older than tiny babies over there! (What is a mac? Macintosh? I mean some kind of garment, obviously, not the computer.)

It sounds adorable. Swords!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it, 8-10 year olds are technically juniors rather than infants (school runs Nursery (3), Reception (4), Infants (5-7), Juniors (7-11) and then Seniors/Secondary school up to 18. But they were very sweet, nonetheless.

A mac is a raincoat, a properly waterproof one, not just a shower-proof one. Like 'hoover' for vacuum cleaner, it's a brand/person's name that's come to stand for a whole class of garments. Technically, only the branded (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackintosh) ones are Macs, but they do do them in pretty colours. Sadly, you only get matching hats for the kiddie ones. ;)

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

I didn't know it was a brand name, but that makes sense! Now that I think about it, maybe "mackintosh" is/was used in the Northeast U.S. too. It seems like a term I might have seen in a Madeleine L'Engle book.

Interesting about "infant" - we only use the term for tiny humans (actually, could be other animals as well) who are too young to walk. I'd like to find out when and why the usages diverged. I have to teach the terminology we use in English for the stages of life, and I always like to give the students the regional variations if I can. That way they won't be gobsmacked if they travel and hear a different usage.

It sounds like you use the school terms (infant, junior, etc.) to refer to the ages of children - do you do that independent of a school context as well? Like, would you say, "I saw an infant playing with a ball in the street" if you saw some random six-year-old child?

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Huh. That's an interesting point about age, because no, we wouldn't. Now I come to pull it apart, it's context-specific.

If I was IN a school, I'd say "I saw the infants out playing at lunchtime" meaning "The lower half of the school" (most are mixed infants and juniors - we call them Primary Schools)

In other contexts, I'd probably qualify it a little: "I saw the infants classes playing at lunchtime."

Looking at that, it seems that when we make it plural, we make it very specifically describe children in the lower half of Primary school - "The Infants" effectively becomes a proper name.

But a random six year old child would be "a child". In that context, "an infant" would have the same meaning for me as for you, i.e. a child too young to walk.

Apparently, as ever, context is everything! (do keep asking if I'm not making sense - it's quite interesting!)

[stackcats.livejournal.com]

That sounds adorable! There's one kid who comes into work about twice a week with his family, and he's always wearing a costume. He loves them! He's usually spiderman, but he has lots of different ones.

Oh, and don't jinx the weather! I bought a dress today and I intend to have the chance to wear it!