Writing Tips: British for Americans

[chiroho]

To anyone who has read something by J.K. Rowling, Terry Pratchett, or Agatha Christie, or watched a show like Doctor Who, Torchwood, or even Top Gear, the major differences between British and American English are fairly obvious. However, even though there is a significant amount of British literature and entertainment media available to writers

Comments

[deird1]

Also, in America you "write Aunt Joan", whereas in Britain you "write to Aunt Joan"...

[katie310117]

Really? I'm an American and I wouldn't 'write Aunt Joan', I'd definitely write TO her.

[deird1]

I don't know that it applies to all parts of America - but I've certainly encountered a lot of Americans talking about "writing someone", and I've never seen that anywhere else.

[chiroho]

I guess it could be more regional, as I'm married to an American and I'm pretty sure that my wife would say "write Aunt Joan" - though I couldn't swear to it. :)

[yamx]

As a general rule, words ending in -or in American English will end in -our in British English.

I shall remember that when I'm writing four Doctour Who our when I see some British fic on my monitour. This really opens the doour to many new possibilites... ;)

Great article, thanks!

[chiroho]

You're very welcome, and I'm glad that I could be of assistance.

[live_brave]

Thank you for compiling all of this - it's a wonderful resource!

[chiroho]

You're very welcome. Thanks for commenting! :)

[sg_betty]

Canadian really isn't much like British at all--not anymore. A few phrases, some spelling, that's about it, and American usage is equally accepted. Anyone who's writing a Canadian, unless they're from the east coast, can just write an American from Seattle, then tweak it a bit. (ie. change any instances if 'huh' to 'eh', and you're pretty much good to go)

Had to look this up:
septic: n American: Hey, did you hear Bob had moved to New York and married a septic? From Cockney rhyming slang “septic tank” / “yank,” where “yank” is in turn used in the U.K. to mean “American.” If you don’t believe me, look it up, but I have to warn you that I also wrote that definition. The Australians use the same term and have further abbreviated septic to “seppo.”

Wow. That's really insulting.

[chiroho]

Interestingly, that's not just Cockney slang, as it's also used in Australia - though I don't know that in either case it's necessarily widespread. I actually wonder whether there almost isn't more rhyming slang in Aus, some of it deliberately created by convicts 200+ years ago in order to obscure what they were saying to each other.

[errant_knight_1]

That's an interesting thought.

[chiroho]

You're very welcome. Glad you liked it.