Karen, that's just a mis-spelling! wink You lose keys, but you might loose the chains around yourself, if you get the difference. One is not an acceptable alternative for the other, no matter what dictionary.com might say - that appals me! goofy I've certainly felt jerked out of stories when I've glanced at some for other UK programmes written by Americans.

But then, it sneaks into published fiction too - I find it amazing to believe that editors, if not writers, can't ensure that characters who are members of the English aristocracy in the early 1800s don't sound like contemporary Americans. I mean, young ladies talking about 'fixing' hair? Gentlemen saying they will 'write someone'? cat It's almost as bad as the American author who thought it would be possible for a carriage carrying a lady to get from London to Nottinghamshire and back within the space of an afternoon. That's not even possible now, with cars and decent motorways, let alone in 1800 with roads which were no more than dirt and horse-drawn carriages travelling at around 10-12 miles an hour! eek

And as for Alexandra Ripley's attempt, in her awful follow-up to Gone With The Wind, to write about nineteenth-century Ireland and reproduce speech patterns and dialogue... shudder. Just awful! cat

But then, of course, and quite rightly, Americans complain about Maeve Binchy's attempts to replicate American speech patterns and linguistic style in her novel Tara Road. Unless we start to say that authors should never write beyond their own linguistic setting, we are going to find that some things will look and sound wrong to native eyes. Personally, I am willing to overlook the occasional error if the story otherwise is worth reading - as an avid reader of English Regency fiction, I would be very short of reading matter if I didn't, since the majority of this, ironically, is written by Americans! <g>


Wendy wink

Just a fly-by! *waves*