I have a small group of close author friends and we occasionally have a discussion/debate about usage of certain words in the England language - which no-one but myself seems to understand.
This came out of a comment from my editor (although English, I work for an American publisher) on my latest edits asking me to change the word ‘scarpered’ (as in ‘to run away quickly) as they stated that it was a term not widely used outside of British English. And it turned out my fellow author friends (European as well as American) had never heard of this either. *sigh* I feel like I am speaking a foreign language sometimes.
Other words some fellow authors haven’t heard of included ‘tutted’ as in 'to make a sound of disapproval', and ‘by dint of’ in other words ‘by means of’.
The other things I have had to consider since starting writing for an American publisher is to change the spelling of words, eg, colour to color, realise to realize, dived to dove. If I try to use 'whilst' they automatically change it to while.
Similarly, the need to change to American idioms, eg, take-away to take-out, lift to elevator, taxi to cab, knickers to panties. I haven’t had any of my characters referring to the bottom-most floor in a building but in England we would call that the ground floor – I believe I’d have to change that to first floor? One non-American author was told that the swear word ‘bloody’ was too English and to change it as her story was set in America.
I objected when they removed the dash in the word co-worker. Without it (coworker) I felt it read like cow worker – so I changed it to colleague! That's what I get for working for an American publisher.
Of course, even within my own country we have our regional words. I am a southern living in the north of the country and get confused when someone says they are having their dinner – when it is the middle of the day. To me that is lunch. Dinner is reserved for the evening meal – which to the northerners is tea!!
And so by dint of the fact that I have now finished, I scarper through the ground floor of my house to the kitchen (as I don’t need to take the lift) to tidy away the remains of the take-away having realised I failed to tidy up yesterday, before anyone (in particular a co-worker) starts tutting. Whilst I am there I put away the washing. (I dived to pick up some knickers, which had fallen to the floor, the colour of which are red). And then had some tea (and I don’t mean the evening meal!). All of this before the bloody taxi arrives to take me to work.
Jen
Good post! My view is that if a story about British characters is set in Britian, then you should use British spelling and idioms. Since non-Americans have to cope with American words and phrases, why can't Americans cope with British words and phrases?
ReplyDeleteOnly if I (as a British writer) was writing about American characters would I change words and phrases to American ones.
A very good post. I recently had a problem with playing gooseberry, as applied to a third person present when two lovers wish to be alone together. Apparently the US idiom is "I'm not going to be a third wheel." It was odd, though, because that was only picked up at the final edits. I'm wondering if different editors except different words and phrases.
ReplyDeleteAnother one I had with my last book, was I had the hero described as oozing smugness as easy as shit from a shovel. Thought I would have real problems with that, but I didn't. Good job, too, because I couldn't think of another phrase that meant the same.
I'm getting used to using US spellings and words now. In fact, I rarely use the word lift. When out shopping the other day with a friend of mine, I said let's use the elevator. Her response was "You what?"
And though I'm English- I live in the arse, or should I say ass? of England i.e. Norfolk, I do refer to lunch as dinner. But tea is tea. We have our own way of talking in Norfolk that nobody else in the UK understands! Thas a rummin'!
lol! Love it!
ReplyDeleteIf you want to see the other side of the coin, you should read my friend Kate's blog:
http://yankeeinyorkshire.wordpress.com/
Living in America I have been somewhat able to tell what books I read are written by English authors. There are some that I have read a word and thought what the hell does that mean but for the most part I love the writings. I believe if the story is written well it doesn't matter where the author is from or the words they use to describe something. I love reading books written by authors from other countries. When I get into the story I can hear the accents and really get into the book and love the way I see some things described that I would never hear from someone here in America. I think it brings the characters to life more.
ReplyDeleteI have actually gone back and read a few of the books I have that were written by English authors to help me in some research. I have characters in one of my WIP's that are in London right now and have used the books I have written to try and find some words that I should use when they converse with the local characters.
Thanks for all your comments. Very interesting to hear your viewpoints. It's my choice to write for an American publisher and I value my editors' comments and advice. I just find the situation amusing since we all speak the same language!
ReplyDelete