Claire is not in school...

[amles80]

I have a question college/university studies; I don’t really know how these are organized in the U.S. I mean, is it normal to have maybe one or two days a week with no classes, when you’re supposed to study by yourself (in theory) but you can do whatever you feel like because there’s no supervision

Comments

[conuly]

I don't know about other schools, but at the one I went to it was entirely possible, if you were ambitious, to arrange to have all your classes on just two days out of the week. If you were more normal, a four-day-a-week schedule was more likely, though you might get stuck with a single MWF class. (Lots of THOSE started the first day with the professor coming in and saying "This class only meets two days a week", which shows how much everybody likes having Fridays off.)

‘Don’t you have classes or something, Claire? Playing hookey*, are we?’

The word is all right, but "are we?" is weird. Ending the sentence with "right" or "huh" or just nothing would be better.

Thanksgiving break is a four-day weekend (Thanksgiving falls on the 4th Thursday of November, you have Friday off, and then the weekend as well). Some schools might take the preceding Wednesday off as well.

If she went to a school where most of the students came from out of state, a longer break would make more sense. But if she's likely to run into her dad on the street, it sounds like she's going to a school close to home. If most of the students actually are from the area, and maybe even stay at home to attend, there's less need for a long break. You're already home! (The "typical" college experience is going far away and staying in a dorm or renting your own apartment or whatever. Other options do exist, though.)

However, at this point, you're still out of luck. There's NO WAY her dad doesn't realize that it's Thanksgiving, unless he's had his memory totally wiped and doesn't even know the date anymore. Thanksgiving is a very good reason for not being in class... because you're going to be home with your family, and they're going to be ready for you to be home with them.

[sister_dear]

The word is all right, but "are we?" is weird.

This might be regional; the "are we" is something I regularly tack on to the end of statements like that. (I'm from the Pacific Northwest.)

[amles80]

Okay, thanks! I'm often a bit worried about my dialogues, because a fic is obviously better if I manage to write things that people actually say. :) It's often the small details that make the difference; the kind of things you can't really look up in a dictionary... I have never really spoken to native English speakers very much (except on the internet) so I base everything on what I have read or heard on TV/in movies... but it's not easy to know if I get it rigth, or if it makes sense even if I've heard it some time!

[genarti]

To me, putting the "are we?" at the end of a sentence sounds either condescending (if he means it as a serious "Ha, I caught you at it" accusation), or lightly joking. I see down below that he's supposed to be half-joking, and to me the sentence works for that!

Especially with "playing hooky," which is something you'd say more about high school or lower where the student has more supervision to evade. A college student might certainly say it jokingly about themselves, but it does carry a mild connotation of poking fun at yourself to phrase it that way. "Skipping (a class)" is what I heard for the usual matter-of-fact phrasing. So if the father is lightly teasing her as if she were a younger kid cutting class, this sentence works fine for me!

(And, for the record, I'm from the Northeast, and prior to that from Ohio.)

[amles80]

Okay :) Thank you very much!

[fluteaphrael]

Exactly, the "are we" is either a very snooty professor type or kidding or implying trouble. Also, a lot of universities don't have that high a penalty for missing out a class. It's only if you start seriously not showing up or if you're in a really specialty degree thing (doctor, lawyer, something) that really requires you not to miss any without a medical excuse.

Some professors and unis have been cracking down of late on people who just don't show. But an American parent would probably NOT be totally freaked if their kid skipped one class, presuming they didn't THINK that the kid must be off that day or not have a class at that time.

I seriously doubt if I had met my parent during Uni my presence would even be questioned. The presumption would be that I either did NOT have classes at that time, or had a decent reason not to go. But mostly the presumption would be that I had no class at that hour.

[amles80]

Thank you for this detailed reply. :) About the Thanksgiving thing; the father did know that it was Thanksgiving, but this meeting was supposed to happen a little less than a week after the holiday when the family was together, that's why I was unsure.