Some points of clarification ...

[blamebrampton]

Pursuant to the previous post.
1. If you as an author say that Harry had never seen such deep colors in a sky as he did that morning, I, personally, do not mind. If you have Hermione saying 'It's C-O-L-O-R', then I won't be the only one rolling my eyes at you to judge by yesterday's comments.

2. If you are posting to an archive that insists on British spelling, that's what you provide. Just as you would provide safe fics to the younger oriented archives and dodgy displays of man flesh to the pornier ones. If I ever turn to SPN-dom and they have an archive that demands it, I will be traveling and honoring with the best of them. But if it's just for our own ljs, then I think authors' choice is fine.

3. No one wants Americans to pretend to be British. It never ends well, and it means that some of the great fics of deep emotional resonance from people like Fray and Sansa, and Heathen's poignantly witty comics and Lil's lyrical art would never happen because the artists would all be too busy worrying about whether their characters were being stoic enough. This would be a disaster.

Or, even worse, it would mean more fics in which Draco Malfoy says 'I'm going nutters, you gobshite! What I wouldn't give for a Sainsbury's curry!' And nobody deserves that.

4. Though it would be lovely if overt Americanisms could be kept to a minimum. The obvious things … especially slang and companies. Needless to say, all of you whose work I read manage this very well, so if you have this popping up on your flist, it's something you already do. 

5. We all notice 'Mom'. We know Scholastic did it to you. This is why we have voodoo dolls of their CEO under construction. It would be a great favour if you could use Mum. And the pants/underpants/trousers issue can cause unintentional humour.

6. We do express emotion, just quietly, or with a degree of irony or self-deprecation. Harry is rather highly strung in canon, Hermione's propensity to flee to the girls' loos if she needs a cry is more typical. If the situation calls for absolute emotional honesty, then it is done very  privately and we joke about it later. As Lizzie says in Pride and Prejudice, ``It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley.''

ETA: And, as Shiv points out, animals receive the full extent of our personal feelings. And more public displays of affection. Not  like that, you disturbing individual.

7. The whole aluminium issue was Humphry Davy's fault. And if minerals were held to the same nomenclature rules as plants, it would be alumium. Strange but true.

8. Horrifyingly, the Macquarie dictionary in Australia lists alright as an acceptable variant spelling, and not just for the adverbial form (which I could accept as an American variation functioning in the same way as altogether/all together). This is not all right, and if any of you know any Macquarie lexicographers, I strongly urge you to remove all alcohol from their persons as they have clearly partaken FAR too liberally. They also prefer fiord, which is obviously madness, over the elegant fjord.

9. Not that this applies to anyone on my flist, but droit de seigneur was NEVER an English concept, more Sumerian. Must learn to not read fic synopses on archives. Stick to the flist, it's a safe place!

10. The heatwave is coming back. Bleargh.

Comments

Indeed it is.

[wemyss.livejournal.com]

Very much so.

And I rather imagine that you will find that to be true of many Dixie façons de parler, as the tongue of the American South has not diverged as widely from English as has the rest of the American language.

(I like the American language, with what Benet called its sharp words that never grow fat. I like the American language – so long as no one pretends it is English. (That is neither a jest nor a sneer, by the way. The American tongue, as one might expect if one considers the settlement of that country, is not a dialect of English, but rather of Scots, and to some extent specifically of Ulster Scots. This is why, when Americans have gotten injured, they find themselves in the hospital, for example.))

[nqdonne.livejournal.com]

Damn right no one needs that -- Sainsburys curries are rubbish! :P (Waitrose, all the way)

And, hey! Some of us Americans pretend to be British just fine :P :P :P

♥

[abusing-sarcasm.livejournal.com]

I should kick gabe_speaks for indoctrinating me on "alright" only to find that it's bad!!! I used to put "all right" and was stymied. *humph*

Maybe I'm just a sadistic nutcase, but the self-deprecating emotional moments are so much more fun than weepy ones. :p

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

All good advice, the only thing I take issue with is the "no one over the age of 20 crying" thing. And not just because tears are an iron-clad kink of mine. Well, mostly not.

Men cry. British men cry. My husband cried when our daughter was born, and many years earlier when I tried to break up with him that time. They cry at football matches, they cry at funerals, they cry at pretty much all the normal places where it's appropriate to cry. Maybe not while watching Beaches or because they just love someone so darn much, but it does happen.

And querying husband about his friend just now he claims that he's seen them both shed tears on more than one occasion.

I may do a post about this! I feel very passionate about it. ;)

[absynthedrinker.livejournal.com]

Whether it be Mesopotamia or Maidenhead(please, forgive the pun)debauchery and droit de seigneur on a Malfoy estate have their moments. Though I agree on principle. Thanks

Peace,
Bubba

[annafugazzi.livejournal.com]

Every time I read alright, I think of an English teacher who told us "Remember, alright is alwrong."

I think it was the same guy who told us, "'The not unwhite dog chased the not unblack cat.' Think of that every time you're tempted write not un- anything." Haven't been as big a stickler for that one, but I never ever forgot alwrong ;)

[beatnikspinster.livejournal.com]

it would mean more fics in which Draco Malfoy says 'I'm going nutters, you gobshite! What I wouldn't give for a Sainsbury's curry!' And nobody deserves that.

Of course you know, I have no choice but to include this in my big fanspork-crack piece. I apologize in advance. (Far in advance, since it's at the back of the line.)

[glorafin.livejournal.com]

Toh! How do you want us foreigners to learn proper English if native speakers can't even write it properly most of the time? :)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yes, you are quite right, I have been merrily stereotyping. It was just so much shorter than saying no tears unless
* pets or children are involved
* a sporting team has just won against impossible odds
* you have had to sit through a speech by Boris Johnson
* the Australians AND the New Zealanders have been defeated (though not in cricket at the moment as that is too easy to be worth any emotion)
* they have just eaten something far hotter than they meant to
* it is a Big Life Moment.

But in all of the above cases, there's a probability of self-deprecation afterwards ;-)

[uminohikari.livejournal.com]

Can we just call it 'Al' so none of it matters?

[ex-pseudicid32.livejournal.com]

LOL. Draco Malfoy eating a Sainsbutry's curry. YOU MAKE ME LAUGH.

[hollyxu.livejournal.com]

Huh. I wonder, as a Canadian, where we belong? We spell with the 'u' and sometimes use English conventions, but we talk and emote like Americans.

And, as Shiv points out, animals receive the full extent of our personal feelings. And more public displays of affection. Not like that, you disturbing individual.

You know, I didn't even think in that direction until you mentioned it. Way #239717890 that HP fandom has ruined me. xD

[sbbo.livejournal.com]

I don't remember that part at all if it was, I mostly remember the sequel story where both boys have mpreg so that they won't know which baby was born by which of them. This way they won't ever have to worry about which one was fathered by Lucius and can love them equally.

Re: Indeed it is.

[sbbo.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I was being thrown off by that word because it had that specific connotation in my mind. On the other hand, since it was occurring so frequently, I had to assume I was the one missing something. :)

[meredyth-13.livejournal.com]

Um... my highly intellectual input for the day is - the heat wave is already here. Urgh!

Given that I am starting to doubt my own capacity to write a shopping list in anything resembling appropriate language use, I have no comment on the above. My own faults are many and varied, and my growing awareness of just how many and varied now makes me cry, but not quite as much as someone writing 'Harry drug Draco across the floor by his hair.'

That does make me cry.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

You can smoke hair? They smear their stash on the floor? My brain hurts!!

I think as long as you leave out 'Crikey, Draco, that's a bit crook,' you have nothing to worry about ;-)

*Ducks to avoid flung cat*
*Wishes hadn't ducked as spent yesterday in the sun and may be dying of thumpy head ...*
*Encourages you to assist with penis post*
*Hugs with ice*

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

One with SULTANAS! XXX

[meredyth-13.livejournal.com]

*puts your ice into a towel and holds it to your thumpy head*

LOL - seriously, using drug as the past tense of drag has been a rather persistent little problem, and it makes me cry tears of blood. Rather like trying to hurl one of my cats - Kai is about 6.5kg now (possibly more).

I do wonder what my life would be like if I'd never crawled into this crazy world - I'm pretty sure it wouldn't include such exhortations as 'puhleese assist with our penis post'. :D

I really am becoming very disturbed about my language use. And I think 'Crikey, Draco, that's a bit crook,' could work well in a 'Draco meets the outback' story, which then prompts me with a HP/Priscilla fic bunny. Arghhhhh!

*drips*

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

YES! YOU SHOULD WRITE THAT!

(And help with the penis post ;-)

I'm reading Justine Larbalestier's magic trilogy, and her Australianisms are sometimes outrageous. One of her characters grew up in the bush living in a lot of indigenous communities, and she sounds reasonably plausible. But another is allegedly from the Shire and Newtown, and he sounds as though he is out of A Bush Christmas (the B&W version).

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Sorry about that ;-)

Canadian fic, like Canadian literature, often straddles that interesting point where there is a satisfying emotional depth without lunging into therapy territory. As my best Canadian friend has it: 'We sound loud, but we're quiet underneath.'

[meredyth-13.livejournal.com]

LOL - back in the dark ages, when I worked for Greater Union as a film booker, I seem to recall we had that on our books. And On Our Selection.

I spent a lot of my childhood on our farm out bush, but only the most craggy of cockies really spoke 'stralian. Although I think I hear worse these days on the 57 tram.

I would help with the penis post, except I'm not sure I have anything new to add. The only thing I can think of is knob jockey, for a persistent wanker. That pathetic cry you hear from me from time to time about my brain being mush? Not an empty wail. *failz*

Way back when I had this bunny where Harry had come to Aus after the war to 'get away from everything' and ended up a very happy and successful gay man in Sydney, and Draco became Minister for Magic, and for some classically contrived reason needed to bring Harry back to the UK to assist on something. Draco had a 20 year old daughter, and Hermione was his ex (yes, I had reasons for ALL of this), and Draco was STRAIGHTSTRAIGHTSTRAIGHT. So ... as my bunny went ... here's this confident, tanned, metro Harry with an accent and a very Aussie approach to life staying as a 'guest' in Malfoy Manor with a very uptight Draco, and a Draco's-daughter who gets a crush on him. >.>

I didn't write that one either.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Meredyth!!

You know, it'll be too hot to do much this week, you'll have some writing time ...

[meredyth-13.livejournal.com]

So much time, so little talent *rolls eyes*

:P

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

*waves palm* "These are not the droits you're looking for."

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

Ack! If you ever happen to read one of my fics and find something in it that makes you cringe, would you do me a favour and point it out!!!