English Vs US English?

[Laerten]

Not sure which section to put this in:

What is the acceptable 'language' for writing in? Most of the books I read are by American authors and there are some spelling differences that are quite noticable to me.

If I was to send off sample chapters to e.g. an American publisher would they just think that I can't spell correctly?

 

[Peter Graham]

Hi Laerten,

I feel very strongly that American and UK English are equally valid, but unless there is a pressing reason to the contrary, if you are British you should use UK English and if you are American you should use US English.

The only pressing reason I can really think of is if you are writing a character of the other nationality and wish to spice up the characterisation through use of dialogue. In which case, do your research - I imagine Americans get just as annoyed at our lazier portrayals of them as stetson wearing gun nuts saying things like "Hot Diggity" or "Y'all" as we do with their lazier portrayals of us as either chinless upper class drunks or cockney barrow boys who say "Lor' bless yer, guv'nor".

Agents and publishers are intelligent, professional people, so don't be afraid to use your real voice. If you say "aluminium", "pavement", "dummy", "nappy" or "arse", rather than "aluminum", "sidewalk", "pacifier", "diaper" or "ass", then trust your reader to be able to follow you.

Regards,

Peter

PS: The only exception to the above is if one of your British characters attempts to bum a fag. This means something very different over there.....

 

[The Ace]

I have seen US editions of UK novels where the spelling was edited for an American audience. The reverse is rare, though.

 

[JFLewis]

I prefer the UK spelling of several words, but they were all altered to match the accepted US spelling during the editing process. It's not something that I felt strongly about, so I let it go and moved on. In general I agree with Peter... There's just one small exception:

I imagine Americans get just as annoyed at our lazier portrayals of them as stetson wearing gun nuts saying things like "Hot Diggity" or "Y'all"

How dare you imply that we aren't stetson wearing gun nuts?!?



Later, Y'all

-- Jeremy

 

[anthorn]

I much prefer the original british english. Rather than the bastardised american version

 

[The Ace]

I much prefer the original british english. Rather than the bastardised american version

Don't we all ?

 

[MG1962]

Generally the protocol is to adjust the style of the country where the manuscript is being submitted. Having said that, most publishers are sensitive to the international nature of writing, and are happy as long as you are consistent in your approach

 

[Marky Lazer]

The answer to this question is: I have the Harry Potter US Edition and it's spelled in GA. So, neighbor instead of neighbour. In other words, the publisher will change it depending on the market where the story is gonna be published.

 

[Laerten]

Thanks for the advice. It was a question that I didn't think had been raised before but I thought I had better check.

 

[Lith]

If it's a kid's book, they might want to change the spelling and vocabulary a bit. But I don't think it's a big issue. That is, I don't think the editors will throw your manuscript out based on Britishisms. Whether you mind the changes they suggest is another matter.

I much prefer the original british english. Rather than the bastardised american version.

And I prefer the original British English. As we speak it in this country. Y'all can keep your over-Frenchifications.

And we don't all wear Stetsons, you know. Some of us prefer baseball caps.

 

[Pyan]

My old English teacher used to say:

You can spell it the American way, or you can spell it correctly.

 

[Lith]

You can spell it the American way, or you can spell it correctly.

Let it not be said that the British don't appreciate absurdity.

 

[anthorn]

Actually Lith your american english is not the same as the language you took it from. I.E Britain

 

[Wiglaf]

Actually Lith your american english is not the same as the language you took it from. I.E Britain

Actually, we never took it from Britain; we took it from England. We had been here 87 years when the Act of Union took place.
Many Americanisms can be traced back to Old or Middle English; you changed the language as much if not more than we did in the last 388 years. Most spelling derive from Middle English pronounciation and became fixed out of habbit. However, dictionaries and true stabilization of English spelling did not happen until the mid 1600's. Therefore we changed nothing; both England and American developed their spelling systems simultaneously and with some degree of independence.
Furthermore, in my opinion, American spelling is more consistant with American pronounciation. For Example, "our" is pronounced like "hour" minus the "h" or the same as the word "are".
It is never sounds like "or"/"ore"/"oar" nor like "-er"(Brit "re"). So why would flavor be spelled flavour if it does not rhyme with hour? The British spelling is fine but, it is unfair to describe our spelling as an inferior bastardiztion when ther was no standard British spelling when our system was invented.

Use whatever your used to; publishers will change it if they desire.

 

[Lith]

We didn't "take" the language anymore than we "took" our genes from the English. American English IS British English; the two simply diverged. And since language is in a constant state of flux, even British English isn't the same as it was when America was discovered.

If you want true proper spelling, you're in trouble, as some 60% of the English language is bastardized French, and that marks out a huge number of words that aren't spelled "properly" anyway. In addition to that, as Wiglaf says, spelling wasn't formalized until around Johnson's time. And if you throw in all the conscious efforts of do-gooders trying to "fix" the English language, regularizing its grammar, you end up with something even more messy in terms of what is "proper, real" English.

 

[jenna]

I much prefer the proper U.K. English. It looks prettier, and reads better. I always stumble over U.S. English...

 

[anthorn]

Actually to the person who said that they did'n ttake their genes from us.

I f you read history. Your great great ancestors will have come from england, so there.

 

[Peter Graham]

I'm with the Americans on this one.

It is simply wrong to say that UK English is "better" than US English or that US English is some sort of half-baked bastardisation of the real thing. US English is, in many ways, much closer to the English of two or three hundred years ago than is our own. It has been less influenced by recent fashions and trends and many things that we Britons smirk at - "gotten" being a prime example - are things that we used to say as well.

True, there was some sort of US campaign towads more phonetic spelling of words - thus "color", "neighbor" and "sox" (although I suspect that isn't ever really used), but our own "correct" spellings of those words were heavily influenced by fashion and the need to make everything look pretty and Latinate, even when it wasn't.

I am very pleased to hear JF Lewis reveal that all Americans apparently are stetson wearing gun nuts who say "y'all" and with that in mind, I am off to sing the national anthem and write a treatise on how emancipation and/or republicanism are crimes against God, before retiring to my private chambers to bed another serving wench and throw a baby onto the fire.

Tally-Ho!

Peter

 

[Susan Boulton]

Not sure which section to put this in:

What is the acceptable 'language' for writing in? Most of the books I read are by American authors and there are some spelling differences that are quite noticable to me.

The Enghlish you feel most comfortable with i.e. your normal for you, the one you were taught at school

If I was to send off sample chapters to e.g. an American publisher would they just think that I can't spell correctly?

No, is the simple answer.

 

[Peter Graham]

Actually to the person who said that they did'n ttake their genes from us.

I f you read history. Your great great ancestors will have come from england, so there.

Or Scotland. Or Ireland. Or Wales. Or France. Or Italy. Or Germany. Or Latin America. Or Mexico. Or South America. Or Spain. Or the Carribean. Or Portugal. Or the Netherlands. Or West Africa. Or East Africa. Or South East Asia. Or China. Or perhaps they were there already, as Navajo, Sioux, Algonquin etc etc etc.

The Americans are like us - a big mongrel porridge of just about anything. Genetically speaking, they are no more "English" than the British are....

Peter