i caught "As time Goes by" --a BBC sit com that has been running for several years now on PBS--and was puzzling through a 'dress up ball' that involved Centrillions..
(i am a poor scholar and know little latin, and less greek)

a few minutes latter the mystery was cleared up--
St.Trilian's

and then--i was surprized--Not that the older generation knew the reference, but that the 'young women' did.--and that it was featured in a somewhat modern (10 years or so old) show!

i don't think my kids "know" abbot and costello, (they do know laural and Hardy--their father was a fan, and bought all sorts of video taps of the laural and hardy movies)or the bowery boys--(they might know the names, but i am not sure about that even)

Are the St Trillian's Girls movies still shown? (on TV?)

(st trilian's was a girls school filled with wild, vaguely sexy girls, who were always getting into one sort of trouble or the next--the closest US equiviant would be the bowery boy's..

the antics, were fun, but not serious--things like setting up a still in the chapel,(using the pipe organ pipes) --but they never actually collect the alcohol--the still explodes or some such before they can actually get drunk--but of course, inland revenue finds out about it before it explodes.. and there are cases of mistaken identity.. the usual silly farcical things..

(PBS broadcast several of the StTrilian's movies, too, in times past.) the movies are (or seemed to be) all pre WWII(Rank Films, i recall--with the big Gong at the beginning..)-ancient history!

a 'dress up ball' that involved Centrillions.. It's a wonder you understood that much, Helen, since they pronounce Saint John as "Sinjin"... (Oh yes, y'all do, over there--I heard it in a 007 movie!)

In one of Mary Stewart's books, the main character speaks of having been to a girl's school called St. Trinian's, I'm pretty sure. Could this be the same school as St. Trilian's? That is, was there a typo, or maybe the British version of Trilian is Trinian?

There was this little island country west of France called England that had two patron saints, Saint Trilian and Saint Juan. Much further west they woulda called him San Juan, but that's a different story.

All was good in this little country until it was blockaded by one of the countries on the mainland, who claimed that England had stolen its patron Saint Juan some centuries before. They said send him back or we will blockade you until you starve. England didn't want to send him back, so they consulted their leader, saying they thought Saint Trilian might be able to defend them but they weren't certain and they didn't want to send Saint Juan back to Spain.


The leader reassured them, "A Trilian for defense, but not Juan sent for tribute."

IMDb has no listing at all for anything with St. Trillian in the title. Searching for it gives this:

http://imdb.com/find?q=St. Trillian's;s=all

I discovered pretty much the same thing as Vernon bu a slightly different route. "St. Tril(l)ians" got relatively few hits compared with "St. Trinians". None of the three, when coupled with "hagiography" got any hits, suggesting that there was no such saint, at least in the Roman Catholic sense.

Jackie
I think they made up a school rather than risk objections from a real one.

St. Trinian's, St. Trinian's our battle cry,
St. Trinian's, St. Trinian's will ne-ver die.

Going by of troy's description, she is definitely talking about St. Trinian's. There was a series of films made in the 1950s and early 1960s. I believe they were based on some cartoons by Ronald Searle. The films used to regularly pop up on TV in the UK, certainly till the mid 80s if not later for all I know.


Bingley

Indeed, Bingley, there were four films in the series: The belles of St Trinian's, Blue murder at St Trinian's, The pure hell of St Trinian's, and The great St Trinian's train robbery. Halliwell mentions that the first was an enormous commercial success, but the sequels went from bad to awful.

As I've just been given a boxed-set of the four titles on DVD, I'll be able to judge for myself (when I get the time to look at them!).

thank you bingley and Paul, as i said at the start, even though i was vaguely familiar with the movies, (i have seen one, and well it just didn't send me) it was from long ago and at first i didn't even recognize the "centrilians" and know what was being talked about on the tv show.

i didn't realize they were post WWII movies.. the seemed very dated (perhaps set in earlier times?)when i saw them.

my ex was a true anglophile, and this was something he wanted to watch -- (i watched too, but with less interest at the time)

Lady Mondegreen invites you to a ball at Centrillions...

Good one, Alex!

When I saw the subject line I thought it was going to be about a word that meant "ten to the tenth."

In reply to:

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When I saw the subject line I thought it was going to be about a word that meant "ten to the tenth."

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That's the meaning that gets the most google hits. Clearly, the "centrillions" that oftroy heard was not connected with the school films, since they were about St. Trinian's.

Oh, no but it was connected to the film and school--

i might have misheard, (and the character said "centrinians" not centrilions. but it sure wasn't said as i would say St trinians.

--like wise to day i was in Hempstead. (here in NY, and on LI), that is HEMP stead.--hemp like the plant, stead like instead-) and St Trinians would be SAINT not syn (like syn-jon (ST John)and then Trinian-- and not cent-trinains. run together like one word.

i didn't recognize what was being said, and that compounded me hearing a mondegreen.