SPELL IT OUT BABY!

[Guest]

Someone mentioned that my story “A Business Arrangement” posted in Literotica had a few spelling mistakes. I was quite shocked at that because I do not make spelling mistakes. It then occurred to me that Americans who read stories written by Canadians, Brits, etc. should be aware of the different spelling of words that we use, i.e. favourite instead of favorite, etc. (Luckily the spelling of words like pussy, cunt, and cock remain the same lol.) I considered changing to American spelling for future stories but then thought better of it. Even though the Literotica site is created in the United States, the last time I looked this was the worldwide web and I am, after all, a Canadian.

 

[Laurel]

This is an interesting point... If I'm aware that the author is British/Canadian/etc., I won't change the spellings of words like "favorite/favourite", "organise/organize", etc. However, if you're American and you're spelling that way, I'll generally consider it a typo and change it. So, if you're a Brit/Canadian/etc., it might be a good idea to give me this info so that I treat your story accordingly. If you're an American who wishes to use the British spelling for a certain reason, you should tell me this also. Either way, you should be consistent in your spelling throughout the piece... If I get a story in which the character "realises" in one paragraph, then "realizes" in the next, I will (being an American myself) default to "realize". If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask away...

 

[Weird Harold]

Originally posted by Isabella Thorne:
I was quite shocked at that because I do not make spelling mistakes. It then occurred to me that Americans who read stories written by Canadians, Brits, etc. should be aware of the different spelling of words that we use, ...

Just out of curiosity, I checked by cutting and pasting into Word 97. It agrees with your spelling, except for those words spelled in the british fashion.

There is nothing wrong with your spelling that I can find with the assistance of Word 97. Word did choke a good bit on your punctuation, and the number of fragmentary sentences, but not on the spelling.

 

[Isabella Thorne]

Thank you for your comments Laurel … you are wise as always

.

Thank you for confirming spellchecker for me Harold. In Word 97 and in Word 2000, you have a choice of what language to set for spellchecker … in status bar on the bottom of your screen if you double click on the language featured (English U.S. in your case) you can change language to English Canada .. English U.K. etc. If you use spellchecker for English Canada there will be no spelling mistakes showing. You are right about the punctuation though .. I am a very naughty girl indeed for using fragmented sentences like that ….

 

[Greg Lee Hunt]

You raise an interesting point Isabella. I was struggling with a similar problem. I'm currently working on a novel -- a fictional autobiography. The protagonist of the story was born and educated in England. The story is written in first person. In the early part of the story (set in England) I've made a deliberate attempt to use British spelling - e.g. 'vigour' as opposed to 'vigor', and 'realise' as opposed to 'realize' -- wherever possible. This can be difficult as use know. I've found the spell-checking device and the 'find/replace' on the editing toolbar to be helpful. I've also had friends who are British assist me with using proper idioms and nomenclature (e.g 'ring up' for calling someone on the telephone).

Later on, the location of the action shifts to the west coast of the United States. The protagonist, is at this point still young enough to have his language patterns shift. I was having problems deciding whether to change the spelling of words and use of idiom to reflect this permanent change of location for the protagonist. Ultimately, I decided to change the spelling and usage to reflect the new environment -- but the problem is a challenge.

 

[Isabella Thorne]

Sounds like you solved your dilemma wonderfully Greg. You can always include a short prologue in your novel explaining that the "Queen's English" is used in the early chapter(s) to reflect the British environment. That way no one can accuse you, too, of making spelling errors! As a fellow writer, I am sure you can sympathize with me regarding that.

 

[Hecate]

*lol* Trust me .. I can sympathiz/se with you!

See my dilemma .. I am German - English (American) being my second language. So I am already confused at times but well aware of the different ways of spelling in those languages, since they do "seem" to be the same to me in the first place *lol* - in short - one way or the other is just accepted naturally when I read or write English.

Anyway - now coming to my "point" ... I do usually write my stories for special people, having them and their "way of talking" in mind when I do .. but my "fans" happen to be from the USA, from the UK, from Australia .. see my point? One of my stories may be spell checked one way, the other the next .. for me it is "english - foreign language" anyway .. so I hope I won't confuse the readers - and Laurel - too much once I finally get around to submitt my stories.*s*

*lol* had to edit since I noticed a few typos and thought I at least should straighten out the really bad ones - seeing the subject *lol*

[This message has been edited by Hecate (edited 05-06-2000).]

 

[Isabella Thorne]

You're English is wonderful Hecate. It always amazes me how Europeans are so often fluent in English.

I spent a while in Germany once and my Canadian/American/Brit friends and I used to say bye bye bye with "allfeetarethesame" instead of aufveidersein (I know both those spellings have to be wrong Hecate)

Maybe the best solution for you regarding spelling is to decide on one spellchecker language and stick with it for all your stories regardless of the readership ... otherwise it will be too confusing for you and probably for your readers too .. that is why I am sticking with my English Canadian spellchecker.

[This message has been edited by Isabella Thorne (edited 05-06-2000).]