A Royal Match (50 page)

salle
: fencing hall or club

salute
: once formal, now a casual acknowledgement of one’s opponent and president at the start of a bout

seeding
: the process of eliminating fencers from their pools, based on the results of their bouts

Supermans
: a fencing exercise – a holding stance used for warming up, so called because the fist is raised like Superman’s before he flies.

trompement
: deception of the parry

arse
:
derrière
. To make an arse of yourself means to embarrass yourself

As
: exams taken in the Lower Sixth as a precursor to final exams

blag
: to talk your way into or out of something, or to fake something

blank
: to not register someone; to look through them

blue
: blue paper given to write lines on; a minor punishment

bottle out
: chicken out, lose your nerve. ‘Bottle’ is another word for ‘nerve,’ so you can also ‘lose your bottle’

champagne socialist
: a rich person who claims to have left-wing politics while enjoying a luxurious lifestyle (i.e., champagne)

common
: slang for vulgar, of low social status. Note: you can be rich and still common

cosh
: a heavy stick or bludgeoning implement. To be ‘under the cosh’ is to be under pressure

cut
: to ignore someone, to look right through them; see
blank

Daddy’s plastic
: parental credit cards

Domesday Book (Norman)
: compiled by William the Conqueror in 1086 as a survey created for taxation. Though unpopular in its day, many of England’s oldest families take pride in their ability to trace their lineage back to this book

DPGs
: Daddy’s Plastic Girls; girls who are defined by their limitless credit card privileges

dressing down
: telling off

en suite
: bathroom attached to bedroom

exeat
: weekend at which pupils attending boarding school go home, usually every three weeks

fag
: cigarette

fit
: cute, hot, attractive. Girls and boys use the word to
describe the opposite sex. Note: a girl wouldn’t refer to another girl as fit – she’d say ‘stunning’)

fruuping
: all-purpose expletive

gating
: a punishment in which one is not permitted to leave the school grounds on weekends

gypo
: derogatory slang for ‘gypsy’

High table
: the superior or senior table in communal dining

Hon
: as in The Honourable Georgina Smart-Arse; child of a life peer, baron or viscount

hoodie
: sweatshirt with a hood

house mother or house mistress
: female head of a boarding house

HRH
: His (or Her) Royal Highness

It Girl
: society girl with a large media profile

Jelly Babies
: soft, brightly coloured sweets (candies) shaped like babies

kit
: equipment and outfit for specific event or activity

Lady
: daughter of a duke, marquis or earl; female life peers or wives of hereditary peers are also Ladies

listens
: mobile phone messages that you let others listen to

loo rolls
: rolls of toilet paper

Lower Sixth
: year before the final year at school (16–17 years of age)

mad
: eccentric, crazy or unreasonable – out there

Marmite
: a black salty spread for toast or bread made of yeast and high in Vitamin B – you either loathe it or love it

neck
: to gulp, as in ‘neck your vodka’ (juice, etc.)

NA
: Narcotics Anonymous

nouveau:
new money

NQOC
: Not Quite Our Class

OTT
: over-the-top, outrageous or extreme behaviour or style

pikey
: an insulting reference to someone’s lack of background or education; see
pleb

piss-take
: to tease or to make fun of someone, either maliciously or fondly; a joke

pleb
: short for plebeian – a derogatory term suggesting lack of class

prat:
idiot, fool

pull
: to make out, score, kiss, etc.

public school
: exclusive boarding school

quad bike
: a four-wheel motorbike, good for rough roads and fabulous for driving around your estate

queue
: line; ‘to queue’ is to wait in a line

quid
: slang for pound (British currency)

readies
: slang for folding money; actual banknotes

refectory or ref
: large canteen where meals are served

rinse
: to totally decimate your opponent in sport or debate

rip
: to ridicule, tease; equivalent to ‘take the piss’

rubbish
: garbage; also slang for tease or take the piss

rusticated
: suspended from school without being given schoolwork to carry on with – meaning that on return, the pupil is further disadvantaged by having to catch up

safe
: ‘okay’; an expression of agreement; see
sorted

scrum
: rugby term for a pile-up of bodies

slack down
: to disrespect someone, ignore their instructions

slapper
: slut

Sloane
: posh, snooty girl (named after Sloane Street and Square, an upscale area in London)

slut
: can mean either a slapper or someone who is madly untidy

smart
: sassy; can also mean fashionably attired

snog-age
: (rhymes with ‘corsage’) to tongue kiss

social
: interschool dance (girls and boys)

sorted
: an expression of approval; ‘no problem’

soz
: sorry

speakers
: speaking terms, as in ‘We’re on non-speakers’

spliff
: marijuana; a joint

spots:
pimples, zits

stick
: a hard time; to give stick is to tease someone

suspended
: sent home from school with schoolwork (a punishment less harsh than a rustication)

term
: Three terms make up a school year: winter term is before Christmas; spring term is between Christmas and Easter; summer term is between Easter and the summer holiday

ticked off
: told off, reprimanded

toff
: snobby aristocrat

torch
: flashlight

trainers
: sneakers

tuck
: snack foods you are allowed to bring to boarding school; junk food

wind up
: to tease either gently or nastily

wholemeal
: whole wheat, used to describe decent middle-class people

Year
: Girls start boarding at age 11 in Year Seven, and the ‘Years’ go up to Year Eleven (age 15–16). The final two years are referred to as the Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth (ages 16–17 and 18, respectively)

Zimmer frame
: a metal frame on wheels used to assist elderly people walking

Enormous amounts of praise and gratitude must go to my gorgeous children for entertaining me with their stories of boarding school life, especially my eldest son, Zad, for being a brilliant but patient
sabreur
. Thanks also to the Old Girls and Old Boys of Saint Mary’s Ascot, Eton, Benenden, and other boarding schools around England where clearly a good time was had by all! Also, to Eric Hewitson for his map of Saint Augustine’s; my inspirational agent, Laura Dail, for her vision; Victoria Arms at Bloomsbury USA for knowing the real deal about English girls boarding schools; and the team at Piccadilly – Brenda, Yasemin, et al. – for being fab.

No author can claim
all
the credit for her work, because apart from being very greedy it would be a complete and utter porky. So gushing praise all round for my backup team of Laura Dail (the most serenely bright agent a girl could wish for) and my top-notch and much-adored editors, Melanie Cecka and Victoria Arms, and all the rest of the brilliant Bloomsbury USA team, not least Michael Storrings for his stunning cover design. Add still more applause to my darling Mummy and Daddy, Veronica and Bernard O’Connell, for sending me to such a lovely school and putting up with my difficult teen years which they are still patiently waiting on to end. Mad amounts of ‘Hoorahs!’ for the cracking team of teenage girls and boys at boarding schools all over the UK, especially my own sons and daughter and all their lovely, generous friends for their wit and wisdom. Then of course there are my own grown-up-ish friends, Alicia Gordon, Eric Hewitson, Niki de Metz, Malcolm Young and Simon Peter Santospirito, who add an alchemical mix of sense, madness and laughter to my après-writing activities.

*
For this and other Britishisms, turn to Calypso’s special glossary on page 215
.

TYNE O’CONNELL is the author of several romantic comedies, including novels about the American-born, British-educated Calypso Kelly. She has written for newspapers and magazines such as
Vogue
,
Marie Claire
and
Elle
. She lives in London, England.

Pulling Princes
copyright © 2004 by Tyne O’Connell
Stealing Princes
copyright © 2005 by Tyne O’Connell

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Pulling Princes
first published in Great Britain by Piccadilly Press in 2004; published in the United States of America by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2004
Stealing Princes
first published in Great Britain by Piccadilly Press in 2005; published in the United States of America by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2005
This edition published by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers in February 2011
Electronic edition published in June 2012
www.bloomsburyteens.com

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

LCCN: 2010942607

ISBN: 978-1-59990-752-9 (e-book)