HossC

I don't use autocorrect, so I can't tell you. Hopefully, I learnt (sorry, I guess that should be "learned" in US English) how to spell properly without it ;). Spelling and terminology is definitely an area where our too countries differ!

I've just found out that Americans have the Irish to thank for jack-o'-lanterns. The faces were originally carved into hollowed-out turnips, but when the Irish got to America, they found a larger vegetable to use - the pumpkin.

Hogg's Auto WRECKING - (from "Uncle Boss")

Halloween was never that big in the UK when I was growing up. That was partly because we already celebrated Guy Fawkes Night on November 5th. Kids would use papier-mâché heads made on balloons and old clothes stuffed with newspapers to make effigies of Guy Fawkes, which would be dragged around on go-karts while they asked "Penny for the Guy". The effigies would then be burned on a bonfire on November 5th, accompanied by a fireworks display. The public displays still go on, and some replace Guy Fawkes with an effigy of a topical bad guy (e.g. a politician). Believe it or not, the Irish don't share the British tradition of burning an effigy of a Catholic! Also, buying and selling fireworks for private use is technically illegal here, although it's apparently very easy to drive across the border to Northern Ireland and bring some back. I was up there a year ago, and you don't have to go very far over the border before you see big signs advertising fireworks for sale. Over the past couple of decades, Halloween has become a much bigger event in both the UK and Ireland. It's very much the Americanized (note that I've Americanized the spelling of Americanised!) version of the celebrations with pumpkins and trick or treat, neither of which figured in the celebrations when I was young, even though they showed "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on TV .

I can't answer for all of Europe, but April Fool's Day is definitely celebrated in the UK and Ireland. I don't think that I've participated in any jokes directly since my school days, but there are usually some good stories on TV, in the newspapers, and increasingly on the Internet (if you can separate them from fake news!). One of the most famous British TV hoaxes is 60 years old this year. In 1957, Panorama, a still-running, hard-hitting, investigative current affairs documentary show looked into the spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland. Spaghetti wasn't widely eaten in Britain back then, so most people didn't know where it came from. Check out the spaghetti being picked from the spaghetti trees and laid out to dry in the sun: We briefly covered the French version of the tradition when I was at school. They call it "Poisson d’Avril" (literally "April Fish"), which originally related to the practice of sticking a fish on the back of "fools" who did not accept the calendar change (having the New Year on January 1st instead of April 1st) imposed by Charles IX. Of course, in Hazzard they celebrate Sadie Hogg Day on April 1st .

"If we TAKE THAT home, we'll be able TO buy Uncle Jesse a new motor for his TRACTOR." - (about the prize money in "Duke vs. Duke")

The bad guys in "Luke's Love Story" were Turk and ROY.

"It's not the Grand OLE OPRY" - (from "Daisy's Song")

"I want them LORETTANAPPERS in jail by sundown."

That reminds me of a Steven Wright joke: "I was in a bookstore, and I started talking to a French-looking girl. She was a bilingual illiterate. She couldn’t read in two different languages."

Sorry Kathryn, I missed your post back in August. I've never seen Black Spurs, but I did find this picture. Here's the description from the back.

Molly HARMON - (one of the robbers in "Officer Daisy Duke")

The FAMOUS FLYING Baxley Sisters

You're a Millennial! According to Wikipedia, Millennials start with those born in the early '80s, and end with those born somewhere between the mid-90s and early 2000s. They are also known as Generation Y. I'm Generation X.

Big Jim DOWNEY

"This is no time for YODELING, get on with the report." - (from "Miss Tri-Counties") It was Mr. Winkle.

Just for the record, Boss' nephew was Hughie. Huey was the guy with the News (and the helicopters).

VIVIAN Stewart

As a tribute to Don Pedro Colley, a line from "Dead and Alive": Rosco: "Listen, you know something? I have half a mind to write you a ticket." Sheriff Little: "Coltrane, you ain't even got a QUARTER of a mind, no less half."

Sad news . Thanks for letting us know, Hobie.

I'd forgotten that one . "I'm gonna NAIL Bo and Luke Duke." - (from "One Armed Bandits")

"LAMBIKINS happens to be my wife."

"Well, you GOT GRITS for brains, boy?" - (from "Sittin' Dukes")

"You know, the government ought to do a study on Hazzard's ECONOMICS." - (Waylon after Coy and Vance con Enos and Cletus)

BIKINI - (from the first episode, and sewn by Cathy herself)