I think the 9-5 thing is American. I often worked 9-5 when in offices, and got a half-hour for lunch. But I was not at the time paid by the hour. Great song, BTW, from the movie.

Just reread above, Minnesota is in the US the last time I looked, so maybe it's an East Coast thing?

What about "room and board" - are there still boarding houses? My dad used to say that the board was to sleep on. Where DID the board in boarding house/school from, and is it the same as boarding a ship?

And what IS a square meal - all four food groups? back when they were, I think, meat veg starch sweets? (I know, they are really coffee, chocolate, lunch and dinner, or something, I can never remember the last two!)

Also: when did "the carrot on the stick" (a reward held out of reach to motivate the recalcitrant) become "the carrot AND the stick" (hold the reward in one hand and threaten punishment for inaction with the other)?

(Oops - thread creep - sorry - but I've been wondering about that.)