Bruce Beckham's Blog - Posts Tagged "british-english"
Divided by a common language
I get some interesting comments in reviews from American readers.
These range from 'quaintly British' to 'health warning - dictionary required'!
Personally I enjoy reading American English - like where a guy uses a Weed Whacker in his yard. (You see, in Britain, you wouldn't need to do this, because a yard is a paved area where nothing grows. You'd use your Strimmer in the garden. )
Clearly, there are some areas for potential embarrassment, such as the word fag which means cigarette in British English, and the word fanny which I understand means bottom in American English. British kids just fall about laughing at the mention of a fanny pack. (You'll have to look that one up.)
Pants, pissed and gob can have similarly amusing consequences, depending upon which side of the Atlantic and in what context they are misused.
I have this great book: Divided by a Common Language: A British/American Dictionary PLUS that I have referenced for the title of this post.
It tells me that if an angry American cries 'Darn hole!' I won't have to reach for my needle and thread, and that if I offer him a bag of chips he is likely to get his fingers burned.
So it's clearly a challenge to strike the right balance between authenticity and comprehensibility.
I consider the feedback I mention above very important - my novels are at least twice as popular Stateside as in Blighty. So I have begun to adapt.
In a little experiment, in my next Inspector Skelgill novel - to illuminate a geographical point - I compare the size of Britain to Michigan and Wales to New Jersey. Not quite linguistic, I know, but you get the idea. Maybe this will generate comments from bemused British readers?
Enough for now - to paraphrase Sir Walter Scott - one must consider the time and patience of one's audience.
And I've not even mentioned British and American spellings!
These range from 'quaintly British' to 'health warning - dictionary required'!
Personally I enjoy reading American English - like where a guy uses a Weed Whacker in his yard. (You see, in Britain, you wouldn't need to do this, because a yard is a paved area where nothing grows. You'd use your Strimmer in the garden. )
Clearly, there are some areas for potential embarrassment, such as the word fag which means cigarette in British English, and the word fanny which I understand means bottom in American English. British kids just fall about laughing at the mention of a fanny pack. (You'll have to look that one up.)
Pants, pissed and gob can have similarly amusing consequences, depending upon which side of the Atlantic and in what context they are misused.
I have this great book: Divided by a Common Language: A British/American Dictionary PLUS that I have referenced for the title of this post.
It tells me that if an angry American cries 'Darn hole!' I won't have to reach for my needle and thread, and that if I offer him a bag of chips he is likely to get his fingers burned.
So it's clearly a challenge to strike the right balance between authenticity and comprehensibility.
I consider the feedback I mention above very important - my novels are at least twice as popular Stateside as in Blighty. So I have begun to adapt.
In a little experiment, in my next Inspector Skelgill novel - to illuminate a geographical point - I compare the size of Britain to Michigan and Wales to New Jersey. Not quite linguistic, I know, but you get the idea. Maybe this will generate comments from bemused British readers?
Enough for now - to paraphrase Sir Walter Scott - one must consider the time and patience of one's audience.
And I've not even mentioned British and American spellings!
