Why Can't We All Get Along? American vs British English
One of the many skills taught on writing courses is the development of a unique authorial voice. You may be lush and literary, clipped and matter of fact. Though you can't be 100% certain of the age and gender of an author you can hazard a guess.
One thing you can usually spot is the writer's nationality. Of course there are obvious giveaways - setting, how characters speak, spelling - but there are other, smaller ones like pop culture references and brand of humour. It helps provide colour and a sense of place, making the world of the story (and by extension the characters) more real.
My friends and I, as Brits who have lived in the UK all our lives, naturally bring this bias to our writing. We use British idiom, refer to British institutions and make allusions to British culture. Soaps, fish and chips, the Royal Family - these are the facts of growing up in the UK, immediately recognised by British readers. Non British English speakers often like this, describing a story's "quirky British way" or "British humor."
Not everyone is enchanted. There is a significant minority of American readers who seem to find it an impediment to enjoying a book and use it to justify a poor review. They fall back on the old phrase used for words you can't understand: 'slang.' They wonder, with a touch of paranoia, if the writer has deliberately chosen to alienate non British readers. If they thought about this, they'd realise it was crazy - why would you sabotage your own work?
When it happened to me, I was baffled. I flicked through my book, trying to find impenetrable passages, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. I can understand frustration in the old days, when you had to dash for a dictionary, but all my books are on Kindle. If you come across an obscure word, nine times out of ten it's defined.
I asked fellow writers if they had a similar experience. The response was automatic. Yes, they'd received stinker reviews because they'd dared to throw in dialect or used Welsh place names. One reviewer demanded that the writer "talk American"; other reviews said such British books were intended for a 'snobby elitist group' ...
Since it threatened to become uncomfortably xenophobic, with people attacking American vernacular and attitudes, I thanked them for their insights and ended the discussion. I was grateful to the Americans who'd replied, who said they found the reviews embarrassing and in no way represented American opinion. The message seems to be that there's intolerance on both sides, roughly divided along age lines.
When I was growing up the teenage book market was dominated by long running American series: Sweet Valley High, The Babysitter's Club, Goosebumps, Point Horror. British kids were introduced to the exotic world of US high schools, never mind most of us would be hurled into the lockers on our first day. We discovered American football, summer camp, Presidents' Day. What were bangs? Was a majorette a female major? All our dictionaries were British so we had to use our imaginations. I assumed a malt shop was a seedy dive where people went around imbibing extract of malt.
A few years later Harry Potter came along, sweeping these franchises aside. There was a renaissance in British kids' books, to everyone's lasting benefit. Unfortunately it also means that fewer children were exposed to American culture, resulting in this knee jerk reaction to things they can't understand. It's no accident that these reviewers seem to be either very old or very young.
Readers both side of the Atlantic must accept that there is no right or wrong and no one nation speaks 'correct' English. Brits have to stop moaning about the adoption of customs like Black Friday and Groundhog Day. (Most Brits had no idea what a groundhog was before the movie). In turn, Americans have to understand that if they buy a book by a British author, it'll be chockful of swearing and Shakespeare quotes. The alternative would be a book of fake Americanisms, which would please neither market.
One thing you can usually spot is the writer's nationality. Of course there are obvious giveaways - setting, how characters speak, spelling - but there are other, smaller ones like pop culture references and brand of humour. It helps provide colour and a sense of place, making the world of the story (and by extension the characters) more real.
My friends and I, as Brits who have lived in the UK all our lives, naturally bring this bias to our writing. We use British idiom, refer to British institutions and make allusions to British culture. Soaps, fish and chips, the Royal Family - these are the facts of growing up in the UK, immediately recognised by British readers. Non British English speakers often like this, describing a story's "quirky British way" or "British humor."
Not everyone is enchanted. There is a significant minority of American readers who seem to find it an impediment to enjoying a book and use it to justify a poor review. They fall back on the old phrase used for words you can't understand: 'slang.' They wonder, with a touch of paranoia, if the writer has deliberately chosen to alienate non British readers. If they thought about this, they'd realise it was crazy - why would you sabotage your own work?
When it happened to me, I was baffled. I flicked through my book, trying to find impenetrable passages, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. I can understand frustration in the old days, when you had to dash for a dictionary, but all my books are on Kindle. If you come across an obscure word, nine times out of ten it's defined.
I asked fellow writers if they had a similar experience. The response was automatic. Yes, they'd received stinker reviews because they'd dared to throw in dialect or used Welsh place names. One reviewer demanded that the writer "talk American"; other reviews said such British books were intended for a 'snobby elitist group' ...
Since it threatened to become uncomfortably xenophobic, with people attacking American vernacular and attitudes, I thanked them for their insights and ended the discussion. I was grateful to the Americans who'd replied, who said they found the reviews embarrassing and in no way represented American opinion. The message seems to be that there's intolerance on both sides, roughly divided along age lines.
When I was growing up the teenage book market was dominated by long running American series: Sweet Valley High, The Babysitter's Club, Goosebumps, Point Horror. British kids were introduced to the exotic world of US high schools, never mind most of us would be hurled into the lockers on our first day. We discovered American football, summer camp, Presidents' Day. What were bangs? Was a majorette a female major? All our dictionaries were British so we had to use our imaginations. I assumed a malt shop was a seedy dive where people went around imbibing extract of malt.
A few years later Harry Potter came along, sweeping these franchises aside. There was a renaissance in British kids' books, to everyone's lasting benefit. Unfortunately it also means that fewer children were exposed to American culture, resulting in this knee jerk reaction to things they can't understand. It's no accident that these reviewers seem to be either very old or very young.
Readers both side of the Atlantic must accept that there is no right or wrong and no one nation speaks 'correct' English. Brits have to stop moaning about the adoption of customs like Black Friday and Groundhog Day. (Most Brits had no idea what a groundhog was before the movie). In turn, Americans have to understand that if they buy a book by a British author, it'll be chockful of swearing and Shakespeare quotes. The alternative would be a book of fake Americanisms, which would please neither market.
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