Doctor Who and the Foreign Writer

[dark_aegis]

Everyone's done it. You sit in front of a keyboard and suddenly words appear on your nice, clean and blank word processor's sheet. A letter, then a word, then a sentence. Sentences become paragraphs. Paragraphs become chapters. And, sooner or later, you have a story

Comments

[debs7]

16. DON'T spell it 'luv' : “We’re almost there luv, can you make it?” It's love.

I take it you read the same fic as I did. That line threw me completely out of the fic. I can never imagine Nine saying that at all.

[dark_aegis]

Yeah :) Though that's not one of the worst offenders.

[snorkackcatcher]

Actually ... the spelling 'luv' is often used to indicate a Northern accent (i.e. that the person is from England north of say Birmingham), or at any rate a working-class one. So Nine "lots of planets have a North!" saying that is actually quite convincing. :)

#10 -- we don't usually drink eggnog, but a similar sort of Dutch drink called 'advocaat' used to be popular at Christmas in about the 1960s-80s (not so much now though -- haven't seen it for ages).

[dark_aegis]

True enough. I suppose it depends on whether you tend to write out accents. *shrugs* I generally go the safe route and type it out.

[jadesfire]

This is such a good idea - it's these kind of little things that trip the reader up before the writer's noticed. The duster one used to really confuse me, and conjures up all kinds of entertaining images, especially as most dusters (the cleaning kind) are bright yellow...

The only problem is that Brits aren't any more consistent than other people in the use of their language, so:

14. Yard = wide open space, generally paved.

15. Lawn = garden.

A yard doesn't have to be wide and open. If the little garden at the back of your house is paved, you'd call it the "back yard". Probably not just 'the yard' though, and it's not a word we use very much on its own (back yard, stable yard, prison yard etc). And a lawn is an expanse of grass in the garden, rather than the garden itself.

I'm intrigued by 'A couple things' - that's correct in American English?

[un_sedentary]

I'm intrigued by 'A couple things' - that's correct in American English?

I was just thinking - I would never skip the 'of' part, whether I'm writing British English or something else.

Interesting list - I didn't know a couple of them, like #4 and #11.

[dark_aegis]

I think that "couple things" thing is more of a problem if you're from the South. I sometimes slip up on that when I write (which W then points out to me).

[orianna2000]

I've never been sure which is the proper way, but I generally use "a couple things" without the "of", simply because couple means "two" while "few" means three or more--and you don't say "a few of things", you say "a few things". Why should you add the word "of" just because you're talking about two items instead of three?

But then, grammar is rarely logical, right?

[requialexa]

This is what keeps me from writing whofic! I can't stand it when it isn't right and I don't have time to worry over pants and knickers and trainers and the like! I would worry myself silly. Not to mention that it takes a pretty damn good story to keep me in it if just one "Breathe" is spelled "Breath."
I love, also, in this fandom, the shock I feel when I discover that an author is an American and *I couldn't tell*!
There aren't a lot of them. (you were one!)

And where can I orphan my plot bunnies? I need to drop some off to be nurtured since I am unable to care for them properly with British English.

[wendymr]

Ah, but there's an easy answer to that one: find a Brit-English beta-reader (advertise on your LJ or a comm) and use dw_britglish for any questions you might have. :) That's probably how many of the American writers you've noticed do it.

[dark_aegis]

I know that, for me, someone like Wendy is invaluable when I write. She can catch things that I, as an American, slide over. That's how I discovered a lot of the things on the list above. And that's not necessarily just when I write. If I use American slang for something, Wendy generally points out what's different between that and what they use over the pond.

I love, also, in this fandom, the shock I feel when I discover that an author is an American and *I couldn't tell*! There aren't a lot of them. (you were one!)

Hee! Thank you :)

[starlightmoonla]

Thanks for this! I enjoy those fanfics that stick to the British English because, as you mentioned, Doctor Who really is inherently British and this didn't really hit me until I heard about the long TV history it's had and the impact it has in the UK.

All of these are really interesting and the one that really "makes sense" in essence is #8, the one about fixing dinner. I never really thought of it in that sense.

Again thanks for this!

[dark_aegis]

Yay! Thank you :) I'm glad that this helps. I keep finding my fingers itching nowadays when I see something written in American English (because I keep wanting to re-write it ;)). That can be a bit of a problem at work, but my coworkers'll just generally tease me about it. *g*

Re: As someone who is neither British nor American...

[wendymr]

You make dinner, or cook it, or prepare it. You don't fix it, because 'fixing' something implies that it's broken ;) Fix = repair :)

Re: As someone who is neither British nor American...

[bulky_monster]

I could never get the whole dinner/supper/teatime thing straight. They still call noon meals lunch sometimes, too.

I've had this explained to me multiple times, but I never have got the hang of it. I believe this is because some words are used interchangeably depending on where in the U.K. you are, what the meal consists of, and what time of day it is.

It took two years for it to sink in that, when my neighbors invited me for tea, there would be food and, in fact, there might not be any actual tea. Considering it's all the same language, there's an awful lot to learn!

Re: As someone who is neither British nor American...

[acciochocolate]

*grins* I direct you to Professor Higgins' song, Why Can't the English? in My Fair Lady. See the lyrics here:

http://www.allmusicals.com/lyrics/myfairlady/orchestrawhycanttheenglish.htm