Sweet Mercy
Feb. 3rd, 2007 11:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sevendeadlyfunI would like to propose an international get-together. Nothing fancy or even expensive, mind you. Just a bit of an exchange program. We need to pair off by nationality, folks!
Most of my favorite writers are British/English (see, I'm culturally sensitive) and as much as I utterly adore each and every one of my dear cousins across the water, I have to ask them something. Could you, pretty please, gather up a few crazy Americans and get them to proof-read your fics? I'm reading an otherwise delicious, incredible, fabulous, mind-bending fic that has Xander discussing "PMT". Other examples of creeping Britishisms include Buffy talking about her "Mum" or Willow suggesting they call out for Chinese "takeaway".
And we Americans could really use help with our Spike/Giles/Wesley voice. I haven't seen a fic in which Giles refers to something as "totally cool" but somehow I know they're out there. Spike saying "okay-dokey", Wesley telling Fred she's a "babe"...I think you get my point. There's an old saying about America and Britain being two countries separated by a common language, and you can tell it when you read fic. I've discussed this before, when I noticed my own writing and speech becoming more English than Anglish.
I imagine my British/English friends get very irritated by American butchering in fics and perhaps it's more common than I realize. Being a native Anglish speaker, I probably don't notice half the mistakes in the Spike/Giles/Wesley voices. Or at least, I don't notice them as often as I do the mistakes in "Scooby Speak". Thus the exchange program. Those who speak English can review their American friends' fics for inappropriate use of Anglish, and we Americans can spot those creeping Britishisms. It would improve everyone's work and think of all the fun we could have...okay that might be an exaggeration. But still, it would cut down on the headaches I get reading English words in American mouths.
Think about, please?
And we Americans could really use help with our Spike/Giles/Wesley voice. I haven't seen a fic in which Giles refers to something as "totally cool" but somehow I know they're out there. Spike saying "okay-dokey", Wesley telling Fred she's a "babe"...I think you get my point. There's an old saying about America and Britain being two countries separated by a common language, and you can tell it when you read fic. I've discussed this before, when I noticed my own writing and speech becoming more English than Anglish.
I imagine my British/English friends get very irritated by American butchering in fics and perhaps it's more common than I realize. Being a native Anglish speaker, I probably don't notice half the mistakes in the Spike/Giles/Wesley voices. Or at least, I don't notice them as often as I do the mistakes in "Scooby Speak". Thus the exchange program. Those who speak English can review their American friends' fics for inappropriate use of Anglish, and we Americans can spot those creeping Britishisms. It would improve everyone's work and think of all the fun we could have...okay that might be an exaggeration. But still, it would cut down on the headaches I get reading English words in American mouths.
Think about, please?