But I Smile Anyway…

The lovely Lorna over at Gin & Lemonade With A Twist Blog has started a new writing prompt.

She hasn’t named her challenge, so I have – Lorna’s Gin-spiring Prompt!

This week, we have the word: Prep

When I was at school, I used to have a prep book.

What was prep?

Well, in my school, which was an independent institution (Private), homework was referred to as prep.

I wondered why it was called prep, rather than homework, so did a little research.

Obviously, the class connotations are there. The boarding and private schools tend to use the term prep, whereas your regular state schools say homework.

See, posh I am! 😉

Then there was a whole debate on what the terms meant.

Nowadays they do essentially mean the same thing, but if you dig back, Prep – short for Preparation work, would be getting ready for the next stage of learning – because as a boarder, you wouldn’t be going home to work, as you stayed at school!

Homework is work that has been sent home to consolidate the learning that has already taken place.

Makes sense, really, doesn’t it!

I actually hadn’t thought of the term ‘prep’ for years, but the last book I read, ‘The Art Of Hiding’, by Amanda Prowse, was about a woman whose life is turned upside down when her husband dies and leaves her and their sons reeling, not only by his demise but with the news that they are actually bankrupt. Her sons are forced to go from an extremely expensive private school to a local comprehensive school.

The eldest son is really upset, as he asked about what prep they would have for that night and he had the mickey taken out of him by the rest of his classmates.

At school now, we definitely don’t assign prep, but homework.

Strange how words that mean the same can have such different connotations…

https://ginlemonade.com/2018/10/19/friday-reads-a-writing-prompt/