I have no personal knowledge of the tick populations of the UK, but I did some internet searching. Lyme disease is carried only by Ixodes ticks; in the US, there are 2 types of Ixodes ticks that carry Lyme (one of which is the deer tick ixodes scapularis) with a range only in North America. Do All Ticks Carry Lyme Disease According to another site (European Tick Maps), there is one Ixodes tick species (ixodes ricinus) in the UK, although I have no idea if it also carries Lyme.

According to WHO, Lyme has been found in other parts of the world, besides the USA. But in Europe it mentions only "central and eastern Europe":

https://www.who.int/ith/diseases/lyme/en/

I would have replied earlier but someone 'flagged' my OT thread about Covid and I was temporally caste out. As both the thread and I are back I can say that Lyme disease isn't made much of here, although probably it should be. I think there have mainly been outbreaks in some southern wooded areas (New Forest Hampshire etc) where deer roam. As the Footloose programme was made in the '90's possibly no-one was aware of it's significance.

Thanks Vee, and I think you might be correct because in 1998 few of us thought much about tick diseases unless we happened to actually live in Lyme Connecticut where it was first noted.

My husband got it earlier than that when he went to help his oldest brother, who was ill, cut his grass for the last time and put his gardening tools away. This was in East Liverpool, Ohio, which is near the OH, PA, and WVA borders fairly near Cleveland.

DH thought he had bronchitis and went to the doctor who said there was too much infection for that to be the case. I've forgotten what meds the dr. gave him, along with a penicillin shot, but it worked and he didn't have after effects.

The standard treatment for Lyme disease is amoxicillin. I know this because I was bitten by a tick while traveling back East. When I checked with my doctor at home for a test, he told me that the test was't reliable and I should take the antibiotic anyway. (I never did have the test.) Well, I happen to be allergic to amoxicillin so I got something else instead.

The diagnostic bullseye rash sometimes happens, and sometimes it does not. You can't rely on it.

Here's an odd fact. California has Lyme disease but not so much. Our native deer ticks sometimes munch on the local western fence lizards. When they do, any Lyme disease in the tick is wiped out. The next time the tick bites an infected deer they are re-infected, but the net result overall is a lower level of Lyme disease in our tick population. On the other hand, the presence of the fence lizards elevates the tick population, so it's not all good.

In the book I am reading the author uses the word "kerb" where we say " curb" in the US. How did that become so different ?

We say 'kerb' for the dividing line between the pavement-edge and the road surface,

Our 'curb' means to restrain/check /control . . .ie "curb your temper" "curb the dog" with a leash/lead or a "curb rein" on a horse.

Wasn't much of US spelling 'altered' after Independence to emphasise/emphasize the US 'new-found freedom' . . . although spelling was still quite fluid back then?

Okay, I found this on a Grammar site :

In American and Canadian English, the noun meaning the edge of a sidewalk or roadway is spelled curb. In varieties of English from outside North America, the word is spelled kerb. But everyone uses curb for the verb meaning to check or restrain and for the verb’s corresponding noun (e.g., curbs on spending).

In the book I'm reading I noted many unusual expressions, here are a few:

- ....the book was in good nick

- " I saw her clock the piercings......"

- .....outside the off-licence building

-....sarky smile.... ( not snarky as we'd say , is it the same?)

- ....people who wind us up.

Are these standard British sayings or does the author come from some region where these expressions are common?

"good nick" just means in good condition

to 'clock' something means to see it (modern-ish slang)

"off-licence" is a shop/store licenced to sell alcohol although these days it is available at most supermarkets.

"sarky" means sarcastic . .. until very recently 'snarky' wasn't a word we were familiar with.

"people who wind us up" anyone who causes us/you/me to lose his/her/our tempers.

The language is rather slangy/sloppy but not in a 'regional' way. Those expressions could be used anywhere. Either the author is using his characters to talk down to the reader or the characters are meant be . .. how can I put it . . . street-wise, laddish?

You are right Vee, the main character who is telling us the story is a young woman who has had a rough life so she would use those street-wise expressions.

The character's name is Loveday which turns out to be Cornish.

Thank you for your explanations.

here's another expression that I found :

" she hared off to London " ?

"hared off" just means to hurry or rush. I suppose it originally came from the speed at which a hare moves.

In my book the men rode off to “harry” the Welsh. I wonder if it’s derived from the same word.

Donna

Good question, I looked it up and nope, different etymology. "Harry" comes from old English hergian, "to make predatory raids, ravage, make war." "To hare" as a verb does come from the speed of a hare, as Vee commented, and as a noun comes from Old English 'hara' which may ultimately descend from proto-german for 'gray.' (thanks to Google & Merriam-Webster)

In the book I'm reading she frequently writes that they "played a game of sardines" . At first I thought it might be hide and seek......any ideas?

The game Sardines readily comes up in an internet search - it's a reverse hide-and-seek, which begins with one person hidden. Everyone searches and as each one finds the hidden person, they join them in the hiding place, until everyone is squeezed in like sardines. Game of Sardines

Yes donnaira, 'sardines' apparently used to be enjoyed by older children (before teenagers were invented) and always played at birthday parties. An excuse to get up rather too close to the girl next door or maybe the good looking cousin you fancied from afar.

I can't see the modern young person enjoying those innocent pleasures. Now anyone up for 'pinning the tail on the donkey' or 'hunt the thimble'?

We used to play it at my school too, (which went from 5yo to 16 yo), on wet days.

While watching the BBC version of the program House Hunters, I notice that the women always murmur " mmmmm....." ( melodically) when agreeing with hubby or real estate person. Not a response common here, to my knowledge. It's charming.

Another murmur that is different is the use of " erm....." or " amm......" instead of the " um" we utter.

That is an interesting observation.

I use subtitles and notice that in movies from the US a grizzling baby is described as "Baby fusses." which, as you would say, is charming.

Difficult to reply re 'murmurs' For me the 'um' sound is more "I'm just about to answer and thinking the best way to do so" The longer up and down "mmmm" might mean "I don't really agree with what you are saying but am too polite to say it out loud"

Many years ago I was staying with an elderly Aunt in VA and she frequently told me rather long, rambling tales about a long-gone relation . . . or similar. And trying to be polite I would listen and sometimes just sort-of grunt or make a em/urm sound to let Aunt know I was still listening/on track. When I did this she would immediately re-tell that part of the story . . . and I realised she thought my eruming meant I hadn't heard what she had said; so I stopped doing it.

In England, had I not heard what Aunt said, it would have been considered polite for me to say something like "I'm sorry what did you say?" or "Could you please repeat the part about Cousin Clarence and the billy goat" but maybe a sort of grunt is the US equivalent.

I am getting more deaf but I am also more open about it and ask for repeats of what I haven't understood. Years ago, I would smile and nod at things I hadn't heard but found I had sometimes agreed when I didn't mean to!

A while back I had a senior moment when introducing my DIL to a friend of my husband and couldn't remember her name! I noticed the man had inclined his head to listen so I mumbled and hoped that would do. No such luck! He politely asked me to say it again. I gave a pleading look at my DIL hoping she would rescue me but the horrible girl was convulsed, laughing at my predicament. Fortunately it came to me before too long an embarrassing delay.

Anna.....lol, I don't know anyone who would think that a fussy baby is " charming" ! A baby fussing means an infant who is cranky, whiny, crying and needs some sort of attention and comforting.

No, Yoyo, not the baby, the description!

I thought "fussing" sounded nicer than what I would call "grizzling". Of course, my two were perfectly behaved, at least from a fifty-plus years ago perspective! It was my friends who had the cranky babies, I'm certain...

Annpan, when I was dating my now husband of nearly 40 years, I ran into a friend from Uni at the cinema. I exclaimed, "Oh, hi Mark! I'd like you to meet..." and gestured theatrically towards DH, "..." and went totally blank about DH's name. I looked at him with a "Help me out here" look, and he just said, "It's OK, we have all night," and at that point I could cheerfully have slapped him :-)

Oh Anna, that is hilarious. I also found other people's babies much more annoying than my own. Hah. I later discovered that although mine cleverly hid those annoying behaviors as babies, they came into their own later on !

I would have set the date immediately with DH ! What a charming guy.

Speaking of harry...the most famous 'harrying' in English history is 'The Harrying of the North'. That's when William the Conqueror laid waste to northern England trying to conquer the unwilling people living there. It was brutal beyond words. I assumed the word was related to harass.

In the book I'm currently reading, The Salt Path by Raynor Winn, I just read this:

'Dropping into a shady combe, and over a wooden footbridge, a sign unexpectedly welcomed us to Kernow, the local name for Cornwall."

I have never before heard of Cornwall being called Kernow. I don't doubt it's true, but I wonder how common it is in Britain. Common enough to be on a sign along the South West Coast Path apparently.

Kathy, I think Kernow as a name for Cornwall is often used by the 'locals' who have some resentment towards incomers. They have their own flag and some are trying to revive the very ancient Cornish language. The area around the Cornish coast is most attractive and 1000's of holiday makers arrive each year with the super-rich buying up fishermen's cottages or plots of land on which to build mansions (often only visited for about a fortnight a year) An idyllic scene in the Summer but there are areas of much poverty and unemployment inland.

I am always interested in questions about England although I have been away for nearly 20 years this time! I sometimes know the answers.

The mention of absentee owners reminded me of seaside holidays I had with a school friend in the early 1950s. Her parents were employed as housekeeper and chef to a wealthy family who normally lived and worked in London but came to the lovely big house at holiday times.

It was amazing to me, coming from a working class family, to see how the rich lived. They even had a TV dating back to before WW2 closed broadcasting down. A luxury indeed!

Vee and Annpan - Thanks for the info. I can imagine how the locals must feel. Time does march on though, doesn't it?

I watched the funeral of Prince Philip on TV and heard several commentaries from those who knew him. One described some of his comments as often being "cheeky." So I am going to ask again for a definition from the Brits here. Does it mean merely mischievous? Or something much worse? What would be the American equivalent? I ask also because once an English friend here said to me: "Don't you get cheeky, now." I had no clue.

Woodnymph, I think that "saucy" is correct as the American definition. That would be used in the UK too and be admonished by saying "Now then, none of your sauce!" to a cheeky child.

We use ball and chain, too, sometimes in reference to a demanding wife.

In this context tho, I think it means being forced reluctantly into doing something, such as a prisoner being forced to do road work or break rocks, all while wearing a ball and chain to prevent him from escaping.

Yes, I think the late Duke was joking that, having come to the scheme as a juvenile offender, the young man might have been given an actual ball and chain to prevent him absconding.

Vee...... How inventive! In the US the term "knocker-upper" might have a very different meaning !

yoyo, I remember a similar misunderstanding of expressions in an episode of Frasier when Daphne (the English girl) tells Frasier how she has been 'rear-ended' . . . in fact 'several times'. Of course over here it means being hit by a car following too close to you, while Frasier understood it to mean something quite different.

We do use the term 'knocked-up' as you do. So I suppose a 'knocker-upper' is serial offender.

vee......'rear-ended' over here would mean hit by a car too close to you......but that alternate use is a judgement call meant to be a clever double entendre.