A question for non-Americans.

[JustaSCOUNDREL]

As an American it doesn't bother me at all. In fact I rather like some of the British/Canadian spelling of some words. For me, any way, armour seems like a stronger word than armor for some reason. (G)

For some of the slang I simply Google search the word plus British slang and usually get what I need.

Were I you I'd write the way I choose and to hell with the nay-Sayers.

Mike

 

[RodenAddison]

.........

 

[RodenAddison]

I am a bit fearful that if I "correct" all the spelling to USA style, then my unintentional misuse of colloquial expressions might seem odd. At least if you throw in a few "UK English" spellings, that is a tip-off that you are probably not from the USA, and that might excuse slightly odd expressions.

Very good comment 'sun'. Thank you.

 

[sun_sea_sky]

If my character is from the US I should used US spellings in their dialogue and if they're Canadian they should be speaking dialogue reflecting Canadian spelling?

No. You are the narrator. Spell things your way, all of them.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

It really doesnt matter how they spell, no Commonwealth Anglo has had shit to say since before 1914.

 

[Harry Leg]

It really doesnt matter how they spell, no Commonwealth Anglo has had shit to say since before 1914.

I could be wrong but Im pretty sure we Commonwealth Anglos have never had a problem talking shit. Even since 1914.

 

[nicecthulhu]

proudly Canadian, eh

I write and spell as a Canadian. I was concerned about how Americans would take Canadian spellings when I first started really writing about a year ago, but they seem fine with it. They're a grown up people and can take a little foreign flavour.
Those among them that get bent out of shape over Canadianisms, etc., I don't worry about. I get bent out of shape when a T.O. newspaper uses American spellings while claiming they're just saving on ink! That's been going on for years! I don't worry when an American author (there are a lot of them) uses Americanisms in a book that I bought and read in Canada.
I guess like many in Canada I have the sinking feeling that American culture is slowly working its way into our own and my own way of fighting it is to adamantly stick to Canadian spellings. That may be why many of us get defensive when asked to spell 'colour' as 'color' (cringe).

Ontario isn't the centre of the universe, T.O. is. Ontario is just this big blob of geography that surrounds Bay Street and occasionally votes in a Conservative government. Well, it's all perception. If you live in North Bay or Edmonton then you get a little offended when the mayor of Toronto is the headline news on CBC. T.O. cares, and all the media with headquarters in T.O. cares, but... I lived in T.O. for almost forty years in total and don't intend to move back there.

Alberta. It's a lovely province and the wife and I lived there for two years. Again, there's a perception thing. To an Ontario or Quebec viewpoint, the Albertans can seem very American, and with their late inclusion into Confederation and the fears prior to the creation of Alberta that the Americans were going to invade and it was up to Canadians (i.e. Ontario and Quebec) to prevent it...there is an underlying concern that the dominance of Alberta means an American way of life in Canada.
Is it completely unfounded? Yes. Albertans I've known are proudly Canadian and despite the fact that there has been a lot of American 'influence' in that province, they remain as Canadian as the rest of us. The history of western Canada is very unlike the history of the western U.S., as depicted in various American media.
Our current Conservative Prime Minister was originally from Ontario (I think just at a very young age, though). Mike Harris is an Ontarian and I wouldn't call him a lefty.
To non-Canadians our differences and politics may look silly, but we have regional biasses based on who rules in Ottawa. For years the west was left out of decision making and Alberta made a lot of noise about it. Now, Ontario is left out and guess who's making the noise?

Now I'm going to go eat a butter tart, as it's too late to be oot and aboot.

 

[estragon]

Okay. So see if I've got this right. If I'm writing in Canada my narrative should be with Canadian spellings. If my character is from the US I should used US spellings in their dialogue and if they're Canadian they should be speaking dialogue reflecting Canadian spelling? Maybe I'm all twisted up but is that what was said? Obviously the language used (words not spelling) is properly done this way but did I see that?

She pulled on the tuque.

"What do you think of the colour?"

"The color?" he asked.

rofl

Nah. I must have read that wrong.

Roden, don't worry, write as you wish, and when I copy edit your stories I'll put it all right. Trust your Uncle Esty.

 

[MSTarot]

I sure do luv how y'all bes putting all American type slang in one poke.


Being born South of the South i can't hear my own accent when I talk but i am sure a lot of people from across the pond and north of the lakes are going, "What the hells that Yank talking about?" lol.

we all speak as we learned to speak at our mom's knee.

There are words used in the area where I'm from that people in the north of the U.S would go "What jous sayins?"

Should it be strange then that someone from even further away speaks in a way so very different.

What is writing? But written speech. You write as your learned to speak, and your stories are all the better for that.

If people can't handle reading a story written in the native slang of the writer they can go find another author to read, or better yet let their complain ass write their own stories!

Then we can go post on their comments.

Yountoo?

M.S.Tarot

 

[RodenAddison]

.......

 

[Handley_Page]

Sunshine is American in a sweet sense, in British usage it's snarky. Unless your niece is really snarky, in which case I'd like to meet her.

Here you have me at a disadvantage; 'snarky' ?
Do you mean "sarky", as in nearly "sarcastic" ?
Because "Sunshine" is not a particularly insulting word or mode of address; well, not in my part of the UK, anyway.

@OP: I keep the spelling I have learned, eg. colour. I know it will seem odd in some quarters. But there are other oddities as well, as noted above (colloquial expressions). For example, we put our luggage in the car boot, not the trunk.

As a sexually-related example, in some countries an eraser (the thing you use to correct written mistakes with) is called a "rubber". And in the UK a "rubber" is slang for a condom.

Now, imagine if you will, a young woman (from overseas) who is working in a UK office, who says loudly:

"Anyone seen my rubber? I seem to have lost it?"

And then she wonders why everyone bursts out laughing.

Use of the word "Rubber" for condom is, as far as I was informed, American. I first saw it in a USA advert for condoms for men at the height of the AIDs plague.

I've not had a hint of humour with the kids I work with using "Rubber" for an eraser. Every time they speak of a condom, that's what they call it, and have done for the last ten years.
It used to be a "Johnnie" or even "Rubber Johnny" when I was growing up many moons ago.

 

[MdiGirolamo]

I defend British spelling to the death. Part of a writer's voice is her regional variant of English. If I wrote an FP work with a North American character's POV, I would change both diction and spelling to suit that voice. Otherwise, in 3rd person I prefer to use the native dialect....

 

[Bramblethorn]

Here you have me at a disadvantage; 'snarky' ?
Do you mean "sarky", as in nearly "sarcastic" ?

"Snark" = mocking, in a snide sort of way. Often but not necessarily sarcastic. Not a regionally-limited usage AFAIK, but it may depend on what parts of the Internet you frequent. (Wiktionary tells me it's been around since 1906, but I think it's picked up recently.)

See e.g. http://dot_bdsm_snark.livejournal.com/

 

[oggbashan]

"Snark" = mocking, in a snide sort of way. Often but not necessarily sarcastic. Not a regionally-limited usage AFAIK, but it may depend on what parts of the Internet you frequent. (Wiktionary tells me it's been around since 1906, but I think it's picked up recently.)

It comes from Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark written in 1874.

Are you sure you're not a Boojum?

 

[Bramblethorn]

My question is this. Given the long reach of American media in the world, how many authors are changing their spellings and writing styles to more closely appeal, or go unnoticed, to the American market. Do people do this?

Depends on context. I find it jarring to read a story where the idiom is inconsistent with the setting - my partner reads a lot of Harry Potter fanfic, and she winces every time she finds one written in US English. (Spelling is less of an issue than vocab here.) So if I was writing in a US setting, I'd probably lean towards US English unless I deliberately wanted an 'outsider' feel.

But if I'm writing in my home turf, I'm going to use the English I speak by default, which is mostly but not purely urban Australian. Most US readers cope just fine, and the remainder... well, they probably ought to be reminded that US settings are not universal. Plus, they're going to have to deal with a story that has summer in January.

 

[Bramblethorn]

It comes from Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark written in 1874.

Are you sure you're not a Boojum?

I'm aware of Carroll's use of the word, but AFAIK that's unrelated to the usage we're discussing here.

 

[DeathsKnight]

As South African I write as I was taught. I think the only way that I know I'm doing something wrong in spelling is what my PC's spell checker shows me, so I probably just write according to the American spelling?

 

[Recidiva]

I'm aware of Carroll's use of the word, but AFAIK that's unrelated to the usage we're discussing here.

My usage of snarky and sunshine is based on my experience of hearing it in British writing or media. Other than an American calling a child or a loved one sunshine, my experience with British usage is much more as the one I'd mentioned, "Chess" or movies in the tone of "Trainspotting" or "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"

In context I hear it to be a synonym for when an American calls someone "Einstein" or "Sherlock" sarcastically.

 

[sun_sea_sky]

Plus, they're going to have to deal with a story that has summer in January.

Yeah, we get that a lot. It's bloody cold and we have to write a summer loving story. <wince>

Then in the middle of a heatwave we need to crank out a story about winter and snowballs. <grin>

 

[oggbashan]

Yeah, we get that a lot. It's bloody cold and we have to write a summer loving story. <wince>

Then in the middle of a heatwave we need to crank out a story about winter and snowballs. <grin>

I ate the full English version of Christmas dinner - Turkey, sprouts and Christmas Pudding - on a Christmas Day in a house overlooking Bondi Beach.

I had been surfing on that beach in the morning.

 

[Spacefender]

British (or perhaps Commonwealth is more accurate) spelling doesn't bother me at all. Certain non-American figures of speech might throw me if I'm not familiar with them but I certainly wouldn't complain about them although I might leave a comment asking for clarification if it was something I thought I needed to know to understand the story.

When I write I usually use Jarte. Jarte's spellchecker insists on Commonwealth spelling. I'm okay with that, it really doesn't matter to me if it's 'flavor' or 'flavour' or 'center' or 'centre'. Then when I go to post here or other places Firefox redlines all those words that Jarte insisted be changed to Commonwealth spellings.

Why can't we all just agree than sometimes there is more than one way to spell a word?

 

[Bramblethorn]

Yeah, we get that a lot. It's bloody cold and we have to write a summer loving story. <wince>

Then in the middle of a heatwave we need to crank out a story about winter and snowballs. <grin>

Just to annoy people further, I'm going to include a temperature in Celsius

 

[damppanties]

Just to annoy people further, I'm going to include a temperature in Celsius

...

 

[beatrice_dreams]

As a Canadian living in the UK and writing US-based stories, it can all get a bit complicated sometimes. I find the UK spelling easiest to go with, regardless of where my story is based, but that's partly because it's very similar to the Canadian spelling I grew up with and all my computer programs are set to check for it.

Where I run into a problem (never got a complaint about the spelling I might add), is terminology for things. I only ever got pulled up on mixing these up from time to time - purse/handbag, pants/trousers, sidewalk/pavement, windscreen/windshield etc etc. I'm so mid-Atlantic now I can't remember (without asking someone else) which belongs where.

I tend to use the terminology native to the location of my story (especially if it crops up in dialogue!) but the spelling of where I am living at the moment.

No complaints so far as long as I'm consistent.

 

[4glory6]

The OP was set in the context of receiving misguided comments for spellings that aren't American. You aren't going to change that if you don't use American spellings on Literotica. (Do British readers dink American spellings in comments? If not, most are recognizing that this is a American-dominated site, aren't they?--it is American based site, and it does use American spellings itself. It could mean that those who aren't American are more polite, but even there, it's basically them recognizing the dominance of American spellings, isn't it?)

I'm all for using your native spellings of English, and British English used in a British-setting story does make it more plausible. But, back to the original OP issue posed, if you do use non-American spellings, you should jolly well expect the comments to continue. And if you are going to be bothered about this (especially enough to post a thread about it), you need either to tolerate the comments or at least to put a proslug on your stories, IMO. The "I'm using British spellings and idioms" proslug seems a good idea. I know British purists will rail at this, but to expect insular American readers to suddenly become world savvy is just so much spitting into the wind.