American English versus British English: Spelling

[moderntimes]

In my new novel, I introduce a feisty surgeon from New Zealand, who will eventually become the love interest of my private detective protagonist. He's been badly wounded and is recuperating but is creating all sorts of havoc with his rude behavior to the staff, and the surgeon comes and reams him out.

In her rant (very R rated) she uses the word "fook" (with her accent it sounds like this, and says "scheduled" with the Brit-preferred emphasis "Shed-u-led" instead of the US "sked-u-led", and this charms him and makes him smile, despite his being the subject of her tirade.

In their subsequent conversations, I however make no attempt to simulate a "down under" accent nor do I try to simulate her accent. I simply state that she speaks with an Australian / New Zealand accent and leave it at that. And I also have her use Brit-preferred phrases or words such as "lorry" for what we call a semi, and "klicks" instead of miles.

But to try to simulate her accent by tweaking the words to simulate her accent, because I think this is an attempt to write in dialect, which is old form and these days, anathema.

[Specterpoet]

I'm American, but I read a lot of British books, so I have trouble keeping the two spellings in mind. Generally I try to stay American since my word processors prefer it, and for individual books I work hard to keep it consistent. The only word I really let myself use the British spelling for is gray/grey--because grey works and looks so much better in my mind!

[zeldas_lullaby]

I'm American, but I read a lot of British books, so I have trouble keeping the two spellings in mind. Generally I try to stay American since my word processors prefer it, and for individual books I work hard to keep it consistent. The only word I really let myself use the British spelling for is gray/grey--because grey works and looks so much better in my mind!

Hey, you're just like me with pyjamas! I love pyjamas! I hate PAjamas. (I had to add it to my spell-check!)

[moderntimes]

The word "grey" is now more used in the US for eye or hair color, and "gray" for skies and other weather stuff. Either is okay in the US.

I've got a pal whose new novel was agented and sold via his London agent although he's an American. And his new novel is therefore full of Brit preferred spelling. So the publisher proofreaders changed it all. They also use single quotes instead of our US-type double.

I wouldn't want to have to go thru a whole novel and change from US to Brit or vice versa, and of course he didn't do it either --- the publisher did it. And I'm certain that his advance check deposited just fine, too. Which is what matters.

[zeldas_lullaby]

In my new novel, I introduce a feisty surgeon from New Zealand, who will eventually become the love interest of my private detective protagonist. He's been badly wounded and is recuperating but is creating all sorts of havoc with his rude behavior to the staff, and the surgeon comes and reams him out.

In her rant (very R rated) she uses the word "fook" (with her accent it sounds like this, and says "scheduled" with the Brit-preferred emphasis "Shed-u-led" instead of the US "sked-u-led", and this charms him and makes him smile, despite his being the subject of her tirade.

That's my favorite part of your book! I loved the scary stethoscope.

-- 10 May 2015, 19:21 --

The word "greY" is now more used in the US for eye or hair color, and "gray" for skies and other weather stuff. Either is okay in the US.

I've got a pal whose new novel was agented and sold via his London agent although he's an American. And his new novel is therefore full of Brit preferred spelling. So the publisher proofreaders changed it all. They also use single quotes instead of our US-type double.

I wouldn't want to have to go thru a whole novel and change from US to Brit or vice versa, and of course he didn't do it either --- the publisher did it. And I'm certain that his advance check deposited just fine, too. Which is what matters.

I absolutely hate those single quotes. I have a very hard time reading with them.

[moderntimes]

Single quotes are the style for Brit typography. If you ever read a Brit published book, it will have them. Better get used to it, ha ha

[zeldas_lullaby]

HA HA. I've never been able to get used to it! I've tried. It drives me batty. It just doesn't look right. It's like, why are those single quotes posing as actual quotes?? AARGH.

[Specterpoet]

It took me a while to get used to reading with single quotes (can't remember if it was The Lord of The Rings or Harry Potter where I first noticed it), but sometimes I think I might switch over to it. It makes sense. On that note, I have considered switching to the more European style of writing dialogue scenes like scripts--but that might get too distracting.

[zeldas_lullaby]

I'm glad they "Americanized" the Harry Potter series. I read it with double quotes, and it was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, not Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, et al.

I haven't read Lord of the Rings, nor seen the movies!

[moderntimes]

Never read any of the Potter books because they are YA and I, being an adult, only read adult books. But yeah, some novels that were originally published in Britain are re-edited for US typography and republished here.

Among the books I review, some are Brit published and have the UK style, and some are US re-edited. I'm accustomed to reading either. I do however know that it would be hell on wheels if I were to try to write in UK typographic style.

[Mauritius]

My partner has been busy the last couple of months churning out short stories for a couple of publishers. she's American and I am English. Her last book was set in England and I had to go through it to correct the speech patterns and spelling. It was fun to do.
My biggest issue is Microsoft word. Even set to UK English it throws up errors in spelling and punctuation. Now I ignore it and write what the hell I like. I've no intention of being Americanised just to suit Microsoft.
The other issue of course, as was mentioned above, some people in UK and of course Canada are happy with either both written and in speech.

[moderntimes]

When I bought my new laptop last September and the new Word 2013 with it, after I had installed and set up the system, first thing I did with Word was to turn off all auto-correct and auto-features. All of them. I always do this and fare quite well, thank you, spelling my own words correctly. As I've said, the best spell checker is between your ears.

Switching between Brit preferred vs US spelling is easy. It's the punctuation that's difficult --- single quotes vs double quotes, and comma and quote placement. Thankfully I've not had to re-edit any of my stuff for Brit rules, as all of my publication thus far has been US based. But the publisher usually does this for you anyway, after your piece is sold.

What I'm coming up against nowadays is the alteration of punctuation styles for the more Brit preferred mode here in the US. In particular, the comma before "and" in a list. For example:

"She bought red, green, and blue paint." vs "She bought red, green and blue paint." with the comma or lack of it following "green" and before "and".

Logically, there should be a comma since the 3 items are separate and the colors green and blue are not connected. At least that's how I've always thought. But recently, omitting the comma has become the new standard. Thankfully it's easy to do this alteration via Word's replace mode, only takes a minute or two.

There are all sorts of other minute typo things that are requisite per the house style of a particular publisher, Brit or US. Things like spaces or no spaces on either side of an ellipsis "..." 3 periods in a row. or spacing before or after or not on either side of a dash. Things like that. Sigh.

[Mauritius]

That'll be the Oxford comma indeed. It makes perfect sense to use it to me.

[moderntimes]

Logically, at least to me, a comma should separate all items in a list, so as to not inadvertently link 2 items as a pair. But apparently this is now becoming the passe' style, with the comma omitted prior to the "and" -- so I guess I'll just have to go with the flow. Or floe?

[Circling Turtle]

I'm South African, and we use British spelling. Personally, I have a bit of a psychological block against American spelling... No offense, but it has always seemed a bit lazy to me to just take out letters that are deemed unnecessary. I know that spelling changes over the years, so American spelling could be seen as more progressive, but still. Although the history behind American spelling is quite interesting.

I also have a bit of an issue when my South African friends us the word 'trash' instead of 'rubbish', etc. Some of our South African terms are a bit confusing to others though, like the word 'robots' instead of 'traffic lights'. The Americanisation of book titles is another irritating thing. The Philosopher's Stone is a term in alchemy, so why change it to The Sorcerer's Stone?? And The Golden Compass instead of The Northern Lights... I just don't get it, to be honest.