For readers and writers, in the words of George Bernard Shaw, we are “Divided by a common language.” Black Velvet Seductions, was founded as an American company. We have writers all over the world, but the biggest romance market is in the States, so when I took over it made sense to keep American spelling.
First off, I would like to ask the question, has anyone fallen foul of using American or UK English? And any interesting or funny stories coming from that?
As an author, I had left it up to proofreaders to sort out my spelling problems, so it wasn’t an issue until I started to blog regularly on the BVS website. A friend proofs the blogs for me, and I dutifully do my corrections. There were some regular alterations due to UK spellings, so much so I set the spelling and grammar to US English to cut the correction work down.
There are hundreds of minor spelling differences between British and American English. You can thank American lexicographer Noah Webster for this. You might recognize Webster’s name from the dictionary that carries his name. Noah Webster, an author, politician, and teacher, started an effort to reform English spelling in the late 1700s. He was frustrated by the inconsistencies in English spelling. Webster wanted to spell words the way they sounded. Spelling reform was also a way for America to show its independence from England.
You can see Webster’s legacy in the American spelling of words like the color (from colour), honor (from honour), and labor (from labour). Webster dropped the letter u from these words to make the spelling match the pronunciation.
As I said we get scripts from all over the world, but it is the slang terms that let me know if the script is from an English writer. Please forgive me if you know these, but here are a few common ones.
Different Expressions
UK
Tosser, Daft Cow, Plonker, Wanker
Blimey
Cock-up, Balls-up
Cuffed
Fancy
Fortnight
Kip
Bee’s Knees, Cat’s Knackers, dogs bollocks
Dodgy, Wonky
Tad
Shambles
Arse-over-tit
Skive
Punter
Pissed
Nicked
Nutter
Knackered
Gob-smacked
Bob’s Your Uncle
Chips
USA
Idiot
My Goodness
Screw up
Proud
Like
Two Weeks
Sleep or Nap
Awesome
Suspicious
Little bit
Mess
Fall over
Lazy
Customer
Drunk
Stolen
Crazy Person
Tired
Amazed
There you go
French Fries
There are a few that really make me smile, Americans call the things that hold up your trousers, suspenders. We call the same item of clothing, braces. What the British call suspenders, Americans call garter belts. So when I read a script, a man walked down the street, proudly wearing his suspenders, put a smile on my face. Another that makes me smile is the very English word knickers, as opposed to panties.
Would love to hear and interesting or funny things with language.
I would love to hear your views, thoughts, and stories you might like to share, on the blog, Facebook or Twitter.