Lisa:
By the by, I have embarrassed myself numerous times while in the UK by referring to my trousers as my pants, including one particularly memorable occasion involving an elderly gentleman at Kempton Park racecourse.
LabRat:
it's always been a joy to discover the differences between the two.
Yes, this is how I felt about it
I think it's lots of fun to learn the differences and never minded having them pointed out to me, especially if it was in an, "Oh, by the way..." way. I had someone write me once to tell me that there was no poison ivy in Ireland, where I'd set a portion of one story. I found that fascinating, not least because it was something I would have never in a hundred years thought to check! I don't remember now if I went back and changed it, but I will certainly never plant fictional poison ivy in Ireland again!
It was the long rants I sometimes encountered at LJ and in bulletin board posts that I found discouraging. They usually set a standard I knew I could never meet. And I think the problem was exacerbated by the books being published in an "American" version. I find that ridiculous, too, actually. Americans have been reading British literature for many years without needing a separate version all their own, and most of us are quite capable of grasping British idioms from context. I ordered the HP books from Canada so that my kids could read them the way they were written.
Wendy:
I BR for three US DW authors, and I do help them with British English - these authors also want to use UK English spelling, which I don't see as necessary but they want it so I'm not going to argue
I used UK spelling when I wrote in the HP fandom, but I just used my spell checker to make any changes I might have missed on my own. Set it for UK English, and it pretty well does the job for you
Though after the years of writing HP fic, I now catch myself using some British spellings inadvertently. I write "labour" more often than not, for some reason, and I can
never remember whether grey or gray is the American spelling. They both look equally right to me.
There's a difference between accommodation and assimilation, and I'd never want to suggest that the latter's necessary to write in a fandom based in a different country.
Yes! Very well put
I have to say, though, that overall it's kind of relaxing to be writing in an American fandom again, where I don't have to second guess every line of dialogue. And since I'm a Southerner, writing for Perry is especially fun. Finally, a character who speaks my native language!
Caroline
