British authors!

thewinedarksea said:

I'm British, but if you can tell from my writing then I'm doing it wrong, as I try to write entirely in American English. I do like reading British vernacular, though.

My stories

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"his pupils are like black pinholes in discs of almost colourless grey" - they don't use the U

JLCC said:

First, I'm not British, I'm a colonial(!). I apologize for barging in again.



It's kind of hilarious that I have heard the exact opposite stated by North American writers: "Arse just sounds sexier!"

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Not barging in at all and quess the 'other way' of saying it always sounds more exoctic.

Shady_Lady said:

"his pupils are like black pinholes in discs of almost colourless grey" - they don't use the U

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Goddammit!

Nice spot.

Plus: "grey" should be "gray."

I'm terrible at this.

thewinedarksea said:

Goddammit!

Nice spot.

Plus: "grey" should be "gray."

I'm terrible at this.

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Although both are acceptable “gray” is the one commonly used in America whilst “grey” is used in Great Britain. However who cares as long as the reader knows what you’re talking about.

thewinedarksea said:

I'm British, but if you can tell from my writing then I'm doing it wrong, as I try to write entirely in American English. I do like reading British vernacular, though.

My stories

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I think if a story is set in the US then to make it realistic American vernacular should be used and the reverse if the story is set in GB.

Shady_Lady said:

Also a British writer, been on Lit for ages but don't really use the forums (my bad)

A fair few are set in the UK but sadly I know I use a variety of 'Americanisms' in particular the word 'ass' sounds so much better that the English alternatives

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I’ve always thought that “ass” sounds as if the speaker is trying not to offend whereas “arse” is really getting down and dirty. But I think that it generally depends on what you’re writing about and in what context.

Emirus said:

I think if a story is set in the US then to make it realistic American vernacular should be used and the reverse if the story is set in GB.

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I often use american editors and in one story she edited it to read "the car bounced down the old dirt road" as it was set in the Cheltenham area so it was jumped on by a couple of readers as we don't have those in England.

The other thing seems to be is that the Americans use a lot more commas in their punctuation, or maybe, that's just the style, of some writers.

Emirus said:

I think if a story is set in the US then to make it realistic American vernacular should be used and the reverse if the story is set in GB.

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Agree - I write stories set in Oz, so always use Australian English. I have an American beta reader - the comma thing comes up occasionally but I'm not sure if it's style or different publishing/education standards.

electricblue66 said:

Agree - I write stories set in Oz, so always use Australian English. I have an American beta reader - the comma thing comes up occasionally but I'm not sure if it's style or different publishing/education standards.

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I'm curious. What's an example of this? I think comma use by literotica authors often is poor, but I have not observed weird habits by nationality.

SimonDoom said:

I'm curious. What's an example of this? I think comma use by literotica authors often is poor, but I have not observed weird habits by nationality.

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It's only really based on feedback I have recieved, personally I pay little attention to the grammar police and try to go with the flow of a story. I even ignore geographical errors if its an area I know well if the story is worth reading.

SimonDoom said:

I'm curious. What's an example of this? I think comma use by literotica authors often is poor, but I have not observed weird habits by nationality.

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My beta occasionally suggests commas where I'd not use them, citing common practice in US literature. I can't think of specific examples - sometimes I'll agree, more often, probably, I won't - it's either an education/teaching difference (we're the same generation, but I'm English born and Australian educated, she's American). My other beta is a younger generation Brit, and he'll do something different, again. We end up putting it down to different styles, but I get the feeling different education systems may also be a factor.

We's all free of us proppa litrat, tho, if that's wot ure implicating bout us.

electricblue66 said:

Agree - I write stories set in Oz, so always use Australian English. I have an American beta reader - the comma thing comes up occasionally but I'm not sure if it's style or different publishing/education standards.

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Like you, I always try to keep expressions and slang to the countries where the stories are set. For example, I have had characters from Australia and England refer to homosexuals as 'poofters' or 'poofs'. Americans rarely, if ever, use that expression. I have had female characters from Australia and the UK talk about their knickers (panties), but I would never have an American or Canadian girl referring to her panties as her knickers.

Occasionally I have slipped up. For example, in one story set in America a man is complaining about his kids and refers to them as 'Those bloody kids.' The expression 'bloody' is not commonly used in America and I was irritated by my mistake when I discovered it, but I didn't get any comments about it.

One thing that unexpectedly caused some comments was about how I set out a date in a Romance story, that is set in Adelaide, South Australia. In the story, a man laments the tragic loss of his beloved fiancée years earlier, sitting in a room he keeps as a shrine to her, reading her funeral card that lists her dates of birth and death as '06/06/1976 - 10/09/2001'. The date of her death is clearly stated in conversations during the story as Monday, September 10 2001, but the way the date was written on the funeral card seemed to confuse American readers, who thought it was 9th October 2001. But because the story takes place in Australia I wrote the date in the Australian format - 10/09/2001. If set in America, I would have put it as 09/10/2001.

RetroFan said:

Like you, I always try to keep expressions and slang to the countries where the stories are set. For example, I have had characters from Australia and England refer to homosexuals as 'poofters' or 'poofs'. Americans rarely, if ever, use that expression. I have had female characters from Australia and the UK talk about their knickers (panties), but I would never have an American or Canadian girl referring to her panties as her knickers.

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Worth bearing in mind that in England (don't know about Australia) the term 'poofters' or 'poofs' is often considered derogatory.

Had the same thing with transgender where I found out that many consider the word 'shemale' to be derogatory as well so I used the term 'kitoy' which is much less likely to draw an adverse reaction.

The knickers v panties debate - (which spills over into pants v trousers) - always gets me as to which one to write, as natural tendency is to go for 'knickers' and 'trousers' but for American readers this can cause confusion. 'Trousers' is easy enough to overcome by using 'jeans' or 'chinos' but if I apply that principle to female underwear the use of the word 'thong' can leave the Australian reader wondering why the character removed their footwear.

Shady_Lady said:

I apply that principle to female underwear the use of the word 'thong' can leave the Australian reader wondering why the character removed their footwear.

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Ahh, I think we understand the difference; the worst offenders of the visible thong (right on the tramp stamp) are exactly those bogan chicks who wear thongs on their feet. Both manifestations, a bloody terrible look. Cheap, anyone?

Shady_Lady said:

I pay little attention to the grammar police and try to go with the flow of a story. I even ignore geographical errors if its an area I know well if the story is worth reading.

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10 out of 10 for that comment.

If there are a lot of grammatical mistakes then it’s ok to criticise. I can’t see that anyone can disagree with that, certainly not me. But the important question to ask yourself is “did it spoil my enjoyment of the story?” If the answer is no then the importance of those errors is minimised.

If a story is set in the UK then I would use words and phrases that are essentially in common use in the UK. If I set a story in the USA I would use American words and phrases. Having travelled back and forth for the last 44 years I like to think that my knowledge of what Americans say or do is not limited to American films; tv series or books.

Not long ago I made a comment on another thread on this subject and an (aggressive) response from one writer was “this is an American site etc etc.” So stories from writers in other countries should not be accepted? I think that, thankfully, he’s an exception.

If a story is set in North America I would use the word “rental” but for the UK would always use “hire car”. No matter what country you live in the word “drug” means a pharmaceutical product. “He drug the guy across the floor” is incorrect but is what an American writer uses. The phrase is “he dragged the guy across the floor.” Likewise someone in the UK “got out of bed” not “gotten out of bed.” “Car bonnet and boot” as against “hood and trunk” plus many other examples.

Having said that, if writing a story set in the US I would use the words “gotten” and “rental” but in no circumstances would ever use the word “drug” to describe the action of someone being moved against their will. There are limits.

Shady_Lady said:

Worth bearing in mind that in England (don't know about Australia) the term 'poofters' or 'poofs' is often considered derogatory.

Had the same thing with transgender where I found out that many consider the word 'shemale' to be derogatory as well so I used the term 'kitoy' which is much less likely to draw an adverse reaction.

The knickers v panties debate - (which spills over into pants v trousers) - always gets me as to which one to write, as natural tendency is to go for 'knickers' and 'trousers' but for American readers this can cause confusion. 'Trousers' is easy enough to overcome by using 'jeans' or 'chinos' but if I apply that principle to female underwear the use of the word 'thong' can leave the Australian reader wondering why the character removed their footwear.

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Poofter or poof is derogatory in Australia too, but many of the characters in my stories most of which are set years in the past are definitely non-PC compliant. For example, in my story 'Leanne the Lusty Lifeguard' which is set in Australia in 1979-80 the character Uncle Merv talks incessantly and in highly negative terms about poofters, making no end of offensive jokes about them and referring to things he doesn't like such as healthy food and sunscreen lotion as being for poofs. Given Uncle Merv likes to use words like spastic and retard too, and lusts over girls young enough to be his daughter and describes in graphic detail what he would like to do with them, he would horrify the SJW types if he was around today.

I haven't really written much about transgender issues (didn't know the term shemale was offensive) but in the one story I have written where this came up, 'My Best Friend's Crazy Fat Sister', the brother's short-tempered wife Emily is not at all pleased about a boy transitioning into a girl being at her kids' school, especially when her young son asks her questions about it. Emily refers to the transgender kid as a 'fucked up tranny freak', 'a boy pretending to be a girl' and accuses her husband of 'sounding like one of those left wing do-gooders who shove that shit down the throat of us normal people' when he tries to pacify her about the situation. She is suffering from PMS when she makes the comments, but I don't think she'll be winning any awards for being Australia's most politically correct person any time soon.

It's the colonial again, regarding local-isms.
I do try to write according to the setting. One story I wrote was implicitly set in Canada so I used 'colour', 'favour', etc. Another was US-based so I tried to avoid those variations. Small things, I guess.

There are some of those local-isms that can lead to confusion. I disagree on the use of knickers, trousers, suspenders, flat, etc. Maybe I know more than the average person, but their use adds to the flavour.

However, once I helped edit/proof a Brit writer's story. A couple of times he wrote a line something like, "we went back to hers."

'Hers' what?

I asked the question and the author explained it meant her home and defended the use as people from the area would know what he was talking about. I let it go but then considered the fact that there is a worldwide audience here. If nothing else, it led me to be careful about what expressions I use to ensure clarity for a diverse readership.

P.S. I also justify my intrusion here with the fact that my latest story has a woman drawing inspiration from what I call *British* Stocking MILFs. Damn, they're hot.

J

I'm an American writer, and I write using American conventions. But I strongly think that British, Canadian, and Australian writers should feel free to use the conventions of their countries if they wish to. Britain and Commonwealth countries make up a big segment of the Lit readership. You folks from the Old Country have a lot of kinky people.

I don't find the use of British English at all confusing. Once I spot the non-American "u" in a word like "flavour" I know I'm dealing with a non-American author, and I adjust my reading expectations accordingly. I don't bat an eye at "arse" and "knickers", although they are less erotic to me than their American equivalents "ass" and "panties."

I wrote a story with an English husband and wife vacationing in California, at the request of, and based on some fantasies of, a real English couple. I used American English. I'm not sure how well I could have pulled off trying to incorporate English vernacular into the story, and there's no way I'm going to spell words with all those extraneous U's. The husband seemed to think it was fine the way it was written.

electricblue66 said:

Ahh, I think we understand the difference; the worst offenders of the visible thong (right on the tramp stamp) are exactly those bogan chicks who wear thongs on their feet. Both manifestations, a bloody terrible look. Cheap, anyone?

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So THAT's what I've been doing wrong. I was working on a female version of cubby.

I do like tags that list the general geographic location.

JerseyGirlDownUnder said:

With regards to the thread, I have had editors suggest that non-American spelling will lead to decreased ratings.

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I'd say bollocks to that. I've not had a single comment where anybody has "struggled" with my strine. Perhaps I have clever readers .

Well, as a matter of fact, over the years there have been occasional posts to the board complaining of receiving a negative comment and claimed down vote for use of British spellings--often expressed as bad spelling coming and, of course, from a clueless commenter. So, it does exist to some extent if the occasional poster isn't making it all up.

sr71plt said:

Well, as a matter of fact, over the years there have been occasional posts to the board complaining of receiving a negative comment and claimed down vote for use of British spellings--often expressed as bad spelling coming and, of course, from a clueless commenter. So, it does exist to some extent if the occasional poster isn't making it all up.

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I agree, there have been the occasional numb nuts who know nothing about the rest of the world, but they hardly warrant bastardising yourself to make them happy.

I'll remain content with those readers with enough sense to recognise,"Gee, he's not from America. What must it be like where he lives? I mean, how do you drive on the wrong side of the road? Don't you crash into all the on-coming cars?"

electricblue66 said:

I'll remain content with those readers with enough sense to recognise,"Gee, he's not from America. What must it be like where he lives? I mean, how do you drive on the wrong side of the road? Don't you crash into all the on-coming cars?"

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I have been so very very subtle (shhhh, we're hunting wabbits) as to have Jersey speak American spelling and Aussie Bruce speak Strine spelling in PowerPoint. But nobody actually reads my stories so nobody except LoquiSordidaAdMe picked it up or wrote belligerent comments. He's clearly bilingual.

JerseyGirlDownUnder said:

I have been so very very subtle (shhhh, we're hunting wabbits) as to have Jersey speak American spelling and Aussie Bruce speak Strine spelling in PowerPoint. But nobody actually reads my stories so nobody except LoquiSordidaAdMe picked it up or wrote belligerent comments. He's clearly bilingual.

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Genius is a soft art in a quiet place. Loqui's also clever .

I once had a story rejected for spelling errors because I used non-American spelling, as is my wont, but simply telling Lit to set the spellcheck on UK English resolved that little problem.