What you read/hear/write and US/UK/Hib English

pickarooney

I was reading over a few stories and a couple of terms cropped up which I had always assumed meant one thing but actually meant another. Specifically, the terms meant one thing in American English (the meaning I was familiar with) and quite another in British English. I resolved to use the 'correct' British English in keeping with my normal use and spelling but then I started to ask myself if this was really honest...

Say, for example, you read a lot of books and for whatever reason the majority are by American authors. You're bound to become familiar with words, phrases, laws, procedures and customs which are predominantly American but whose equivalents you might not necessarily be aware of (similarly, you'll probably find that Irish people in general are more familiar with American law than Irish law from film and television). Is it really wrong to reuse what you've learned from books rather than looking up and using words which better fit your own dialect but you've never actually heard or used before?

diddlybit

I shouldn't think that there would be a problem. I think it's to be expected that there is always going to be some influence/overlap between forms of English and if it's influencing you as a writer, it's probably influencing readers too. I’m not sure that general use of English is very cut-and-dry.

There is also the problem that if you as a writer (who researches your word choices) uses terms that you haven't heard of, your readers (who won’t reach for a dictionary) might be confused by a more correct, but less well-known terms.

I submit to a lot of American journals and have problems with this. To a certain extent I can re-work a story to sound more “American”, but there are really subtle differences between to the two. And some things are just un-translatable, I recently wrote a nostalgic short story and unless an American publication is familiar with Dublin Zoo’s gravy train and a Wibbly-Wobbly-Wonder, I’ll have to find somewhere else to send it.

P. Breathnach

It's a tricky question.

Most of what we know about things has been mediated for us by others. A great deal of my understanding of the world comes from books, television, radio, internet, and conversation. If I am to avoid using second-hand experience and understanding, I would have little left to say.

On the other hand, if I write for publication, I think I should strive for authenticity. That means taking care to get the facts right. Further, I believe I should aim to represent the culture properly. An Irish character should use language in an Irish way, and generally say the sort of thing you might reasonably expect of an Irish person.

If you read or watch stuff set in Ireland by non-Irish writers, you will usually find some bum notes. In some cases there are so many that the work is quite discordant. It would be a pity if an Irish writer trying to represent Irish experience had the same failings.

That said, diddlybit makes a good point about using words and terms that one doesn't really understand. When I look through some of the stuff that is posted here for discussion, I am shocked by the frequency with which I spot people using words with which they are obviously not familiar.

Das Kitty

It's jarring to read a, supposedly, British character use terms that a British person would never use. I read something once where an English character said that her mother would 'spank her fanny' for some infraction. :eek:

I think it really pays to get a native to have a read through to make sure there's nothing in there that might bring the reader out of the story.

pickarooney

Das Kitty wrote: »

It's jarring to read a, supposedly, British character use terms that a British person would never use. I read something once where an English character said that her mother would 'spank her fanny' for some infraction. :eek:

Hehe. Although to be fair, ten, twenty years ago it would have been laughable to have an Irish character say 'kick your ass'. Now, not so much. In fact, to get authentic Irish speech now you need to factor in the fact that it's not at all uncommon to hear references to diapers, moms and sidewalks in Ireland.

I always get a laugh out of the way they write British characters on American TV. You're guaranteed they'll say 'bugger', 'arse' and 'crikey' within five minutes of appearing on screen. It must be hard for the actors to bite their tongues and go along with it.

I hate the way 'infraction' is used on boards (as opposed to your correct use above). Just an example of one person completely misunderstanding a word and everyone following along blindly. But I digress...

PurpleBee

pickarooney wrote: »

I started to ask myself if this was really honest...

I wouldn't worry about being honest as a writer of fiction, better off concentrating on becoming a better liar, particularly if what you're aiming at is seamless realism.

EileenG

I try to aim my writing at my target audience. That means that I had to learn to Americanise a lot of my stuff, which means things like checking out the most common hire cars and breakfast foods, not just changing -ise to -ize.

I did begrudge the effort at first, but I recently read something by an American that was set in a secondary school in the West of Ireland, and was full of 16 year olds driving to school in ruby red jeeps and parking in the student parking lot.

I'm writing a historical at the moment which is set in London and the Penisula, and it's a great relief to be able to spell properly.