Grammar rule...

There is no general 'rule' .In the case of teams, this is true:

On a team: mainly American English.
In a team: mainly British English.
In a group... correct in American and British English.
On a group: incorrect in any variety of English.

Do you say take a bath or have a bath centox?

Even though I'm used to it, I don't understand why Americans say they go to school, but not to "the" school, yet we say we go to "the" hospital. It's noticeable to my ears when you say you "went to hosptial"

Even though I'm used to it, I don't understand why Americans say they go to school, but not to "the" school, yet we say we go to "the" hospital. It's noticeable to my ears when you say you "went to hospital"[/quote]

Oddly enough, I think I generally say have a bath but take a shower. We Brits might say go to the hospital if we mean the building, e.g. to work or visit a patient, but we go in or into hospital for medical treatment, and we are in hospital while that is happening, and then we are out of hospital. You might say the same about prison. Incidentally, in Britain, "jail" and "prison" mean the same thing.

Just a personal feeling; if I say I'm going to school, that sort of means I'm a student. If the school is serving as a meeting place for a non school purpose, I would say we were meeting at the school.

Interesting.

So if someone was drunk, got in a fight and was taken in for the night for being disorderly you might call it being in prison?

I might not be 100% correct by definition, but my take on it is that jail is for more minor things, and prison for serious offenses.

In the game Monopoly, you can get a "get out of jail free" card, but not a "get out of prison" card.

Funny words are.

Oh!

I just thought of something regional here in the States.

Where I grew up, in the NE, we would say we "went to a bar". What you call a pub.

When I started meeting people from at least parts of the Midwest, like Michigan, or when I lived in Wisconsin, they said "went to the bar"

I would only say "the" if I was naming a specific bar.

Cities and counties have jails, in the US. Prisons are state and federal accommodations used when confinement is over one year.

I think of jail as where Otis Campbell would spend the night and Aunt Bea would bring him breakfast in the morning.

Police stations have cells where people can be kept for up to 24 hours before being charged or released. This is not seen as being in jail or prison. A minor drunkard might be sent home without charge after sobering up. If, after 24 hours, you are taken before magistrates and they decide you need to be kept in custody (there has to be a good reason) you can be "remanded" until your trial. In this case you would be kept in a prison. Prisoners on remand are treated as if they are not guilty and have more rights than convicted prisoners; they can wear their own clothes and vote. However they would be said to be "in prison" or "in jail", but not "jailed", which is what happens when you receive a prison sentence after conviction in a court.