Parla Inglese?

[blamebrampton]

frantic_mice  pushed me in the direction of fanficrants  (which I can see lasting another week on my watch list, if that). One of the more interesting of the many rants was from someone who, in essence, said 'Look, we live in a globalised age, is it really the case that reading American spellings in a fic set in the UK and vice-versa is worth making that much of a fuss about?'

And I have to agree. I can easily overlook gotten and alright if  no one over the age of 20 cries and if people only talk about their deepest feelings when they are in extremis. But for some, including a long list of commenters, there are certain Americanisms that are like a dictionary to the 43rd President of the USA and have them running at first sight.

I can somewhat sympathise, because I can find it very hard to read when characters start acting American, talking at great length about their emotions and so on. While I adore my American friends, my closest ones know that they will receive one brief hug on meeting and departure, and I will probably never tell them any of my deepest feelings. Which is not because I don't love them, but because deepest feelings are only for personal perusal so that no innocent souls will become aware of the full extent of my inner lunacy.

But for spelling and so on ... well, I regularly read books and magazines published in America and sometimes set in the UK or elsewhere in the English speaking world, and I cope with them. In fact, the YA novel I just finished changed spellings depending on whether scenes were set in New York or Sydney and it read as very very odd indeed (though it's a good novel). Dealing with such spelling anomalies is commonplace: most of you do the same.

I do like a good Britpick for things like truck/lorry, stall/cubicle, Christmas eggnog/three bottles of decent whisky and hiding in the stables, and were I writing fic set in the US, I would make certain that my characters said Dude and asked for the check. However, my authorial voice would still sound like me, which I believe is appropriate. Wodehouse and Conan Doyle both have long sections of novels (Psmith, Journalist and The Valley of Fear respectively) set in the US where they follow this rule, and these were great successes on both sides of the Atlantic.

All of which is my lengthy way of saying, I can cope perfectly well if you're an American and you write alright, color and aluminum. But if you could hold off on having the lads say 'I love you so much, sweetie, that sometimes I just want to cry'*, I would take it as a personal favour.
 

Finally, HAPPY BIRTHDAY suonguyen !


*If you have actually written a fic that contains this line, obviously it worked well in the incredibly clever context you created for it.

Comments

[potteresque_ire]

Speaking of using "eggplants" to denote aubergines (which I am thoroughly guilty of ;) ) ... for some reason, while I was taught British English when I first had to tackle the language, I learned the term "eggplant" at that time as well. I did, however, learn "Mum", "colours" etc etc.

The sad thing was, when I came to the US and had to immerse in American English, I was never told that my spellings and pronunciations were correct but British, I was simply told that I was wrong - and being a non-native speaker of the language and not a good one at that, I wasn't sure enough of myself to argue. There were several words I honestly didn't know I had it right all along until I started to read Britpicked fanfics. :D

[rickey-a.livejournal.com]

ah the good ol' Brit vs. Yank debate

For the most part I adopt what JKR did... That is to say I use the Brit words where they fit (like biscuits and lift) but use the American spellings like visualize and color. I don't think it's right or wrong considering we Americans (for the most part) read the American canon. I have a few times, for fun? not sure, used Brit spellings but it can get rather taxing on me and my spell check;) and a few are bound to slip through, so then I'd rather just be consistent. If people want to use them "great" if not, "I don't care". I don't particularly like American slang or behavior and usually that jolts me out of a story if it becomes prominent characterization. It also usually coincides with more immature writing that I wouldn't like to read anyway, so it's usually moot.

[rickey-a.livejournal.com]

and PS you couldn't pay me to look at ficrants or fandomwank or... any of that tripe

[romaine24.livejournal.com]

Er, was this a brammers cracky comment about 3 or a fact? *gulp*

[frantic-mice.livejournal.com]

I suck and I'm in the minority and peeps will liekly tell me to STFU PLSkthx.

BUT!!! I don't like the FIXATION OF IRRITATION ON AMERICANISMS.

I'm totes prejudiced and biased because Anna Banana doesn't write much for that precise reason. It's not that she couldn't write and then have it Britpicked, but she has that inner voice that tells her, "You're American and it will slip out like a stretched bra-strap and FAUX BLOODY PAS!!" Cause there's sooooooooooooooooooooooo much indignation about hao American authors don't add those SUPAH NECESSARAY ESSENTIAL extra vowels. Because if you Brit-pick it means you care. -_-

IMO it's something rly silly and totes pedantic-o, but then agains I use Le English Language liek other peeps use their toilet plungers.

It makes me go all confusey and I can hear the words "What a silly bitch" just echoing in my head whenever someone goes CHE GUEVARA!!!! over Americano spellage. Which is weirdness because when somfin liek that echoes in my head it's usually about me. But yeah. I just always think that when peeps get rly mad about that stuff it's because they had like nine pet-peeves on their Shit List and wanted to add an arbitrary 10th. Minor bothery is fineness and proportional, cause we can't help what bothers us but we can try to help how we make people feel about what bothers us. I'm a hypocrite THOU cause I think anybody who has made my Anners sad about this and is bothered by what I'm saying can go walk in a lake.

AGAIN! I'm totes Biased. BUT. Yeah.

Point is. My deepest darkest inner feelings say that bitches should step off before I tell them to shove their stoic reserve and their extra vowels.

OverProtective Micie is overprotective. :DDDDDDDDDDD

[thisgirl-is.livejournal.com]

Oh you poor thing, picked on by the mean Americans. *pets you* At least now you know you were right all along. That always makes me feel better. :o)

[thisgirl-is.livejournal.com]

Exactly!

[frantic-mice.livejournal.com]

I don't read all of it. Or. Almost any of it. Not that I have to defend myself for having it in my Flist. BUT! Yeah. Every once in a while?

A RLY cool rant. Like the one that spoke about Bathroom Behavior for men and women (and how different it is) written by a trans who had experience in both Girl-loos and Boy-loos.

[potteresque_ire]

I pick and choose topics to read nowadays - there are definitely something to learn here and there, but I am a resolute lurker because the talking members there are a little ... too aggresive for my taste.

Girl loos vs Boy loos. I have got myself kicked out of the girl's loo several times in my life and so I got to visit the boy's. :DD

Speaking of flist, I did finally remove someone ... we've discussed that before, so I think you know who that is ;)

[potteresque_ire]

Naw, I don't necessarily think they're mean. I think they might not know about the British spellings either.
*Purrs at being petted*

[frantic-mice.livejournal.com]

YAY! Yeah. They totes sucked butt. They were trying to SELL their stuff nao. Can you believe it?



After my little micierant down there peeps will liekly remove me. WOE!! :DDDDDD But yay for you!!!

[frantic-mice.livejournal.com]

OH AND YEAH!! I lurk. It's not the type of place to rly participate AND peeps get mad @ the oddest things. o.O I'm always WUT?!?!? that deserves angers?!? Ooooookaaaaaaaayyyyy.

[romaine24.livejournal.com]

I think we can all agree that American slang does not belong in an HP fic, unless it's totally AU, dude.

But as for the rest of it, for me it came in stages. Learning to write was more important than Britpicking. I did start using the extra vowels pretty early on and using Mum for Mom. You can only pay attention to so many things before you become frozen when writing.

The best thing to do is turn on British English as the default in Word.

I don't get offended if a British reader/author tells me that they use a different word. I find it actually somewhat helpful and interesting. Since most slash stories will have a bedroom scene, I try and use 'dressing gown', which still makes me giggle, and bedside table instead of nightstand. The latter, though, really how was I to know besides looking up every damn object in a British dictionary.

Now for eggnog, this is the first I've heard of it. And I've written plenty of Christmas scenes. It is an English creation. So did they stop drinking it at some point? I'm very confused. http://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggnog.htm

The wonderful mods at hd_inspired did some britpicking of my stories when they received it and I found it fun to learn from them. I will be having my story for 10k britpicked, it will be my first time.

As for Anna, Micie, I would say for starters turn on teh British dictionary and just write. There will always be folks who don't like something about any story. For some it might be Americanisms, but for most it will be content. If I worried about what readers thought then I certainly wouldn't write hd compliant stories with receding hairlines, creature fics, mpreg, gender-bending, shibari, snowballing, character death, cross-gen, etc...

[potteresque_ire]

The angers is one thing ... then there's the occasional sporking, which, I dunno, sometimes I find to be almost as fanficrant worthy as the original offence. In general though, I just feel that the posters tend to try so hard to be sarcastically funny and when one puts in so much effort to be comical ... the humor is prone to fail. In Some posts reflect as poorly on the ranter as the rantee :)

[frantic-mice.livejournal.com]

The voice of calm and reason. :)))))))))))))

Yeah. I totes understand. I just don't liek the way som people make others feel about their lackage of Britness in spellage. It's the same thing with Canon peeps, and hao they make others who don't conform to what THEY think canon is ===> make others feel their fanfiction is inferior. I hate the thought of som1 having to deal not only with finding their writin' voice but also have that voice inside their heads saying "You are not good enuf because of X. Look hao much X is hated."

Slang has its place. That's liek SUPER OBV. but yeah. It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO great that you're that way, that eager to learn, that open to suggestions, that secure about what critique ull get. But baby newby fanwriters? You teach peeps by encouraging them. Not by pounding them into dust.

[beatnikspinster.livejournal.com]

As an emotionally repressed Earthling, I also cringe at explicit emoting for the fact of it, not the cultural incongruity. I understand not wanting to hear long emotional exchanges.

Aside from that, spelling is easier than cultural issues. I do my best with my spellings and grammar. My beta britpicks the spellings and terms. I do the best I can at moving the dialog into the proper zone. Sometimes it works better than others. But, and this is the kicker, I know the effort's pointless.

The cultural part will never be convincing. I'm not British. Never been to Britain. Never even been an Anglophile. And I've always said that I speak American, not English. I translate the best I can. But I can colour and lorry and MI5 my comic until the cows come home, and it will always fail if the standard for success is "must seem created by British person". I mean...I make comics. No medium is more inherently American than a freakin' comic. I have my Brit-picking done, research costumes and environmental visuals, and try to make the story work. That's all I can do, and it won't be enough. I already know that.

So, what to do? I get that HP is a British product, and this is a expressed cultural ownership bonding thing. I guess ya gotta do whatcha gotta do. Maybe I should add "Artist/Author is American" to my warnings in non-American-origin fandoms. Anyone sensitive to having their cultural products reinterpreted by Americans would have some warning.

[frantic-mice.livejournal.com]

Anyone sensitive to having their cultural products reinterpreted by Americans would have some warning.


I LOLed. <3 :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

[frantic-mice.livejournal.com]

Very true. That usually happens when you point out in detail hao much another person sux. As soon as you go all elaborations you say moar about urself than you say about the other peep.

[romaine24.livejournal.com]

LOL, Micie, when I was newby, I got slammed good and hard (or is that bad and hard), and was frozen for a while. It wasn't over Britpicking, but grammar and content. I was taken to deleterius and weepingcock with my first story and then there the random snarky reviews. Most reviews were pretty cool though.

I'm not saying I had it worse than others, or that I'm more secure, what I'm saying is that if the writing will is there, you'll say "fuck it" and write and learn as you go along.

Here's what I finally wrote to get myself going again.
http://community.livejournal.com/harrydraco/3808950.html

Enjoy and buy your friends chocolate. :)

[thenotoriousso4.livejournal.com]

Okay, I just typed out a huge comment and deleted it because it was starting to not make any sense.

But the gist of it was that I totally understand real British people not wanting to read fics where British characters are acting overly American (not to mention missing the basics of British speaking. That would make even me cringe), but I think it's better to try and get the basics right and have them acting like at least real human beings and not risk turning them into caricatures of British people.

Because just like you I could understand a British person using "colour" and "theatre" in a fic about Americans, but I don't think I could stand if they spent the whole time saying "Dude" and eating pizza and saying "I love you so much I could cry", because we're really not all like that.

[frantic-mice.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Which is why I dunt like to see people slammed good and hard anywhere that is NOT deletrius & weepingcock. You expect no better from those places. It's liek som peeps feel like THEIR cause of ranting and slamming peeps down is worthier than others or somfin. It's not. IMO.

I AM sry that happened to you thou. :((((((((((((( *pets Roma*

I'm not saying peeps have to be OKAYNESS with American spelling & American culture and whatever. It's totes fine to be bothered, I just. No Che, you knoe? I'm saying don't make peeps feel so terrible about it.

If I had kiddies I wouldn't want them to be taught by teachers that pointed out their mistakes in exquisite detail and mocked them for their flaws. I dunt like it done to my friends either. *pouts*

[frantic-mice.livejournal.com]

OMG!!!I'M READING UR STORY AND IT'S SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FUNNIEH!!!YAY!! :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

*twirls*

Somfin ELSE!! to be happyness about today. ♥

[romaine24.livejournal.com]

I just read it and laughed at the word "shite"! I've stopped using it, but, this is a funny one. Some brits say that is what they say and others say never.

Glad you liked it! *twirls you*

[frantic-mice.livejournal.com]

I did. :)))))))))))) I love it. It's soooooooooooo funnieh and harmlessly snarky and META & crack and just goodness.

It rly worked liek chocolate 4 my rantypantness. ♥

[norton-gale.livejournal.com]

It's no joke... there are 3. :)