American vs British?

[JS Wiig]

A duck wrapped in linen?

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

A duck wrapped in linen?

I don't get it, but now I am hungry.

I could imagine an experimental novel involving characters from around the world in conversation in which whatever each one says is spelled the way they'd write it. I'm thinking dialogue but that sort of thing would be obvious if they are communicating on a forum like this.

 

[Harpo]

I don't get it, but now I am hungry.

I could imagine an experimental novel involving characters from around the world in conversation in which whatever each one says is spelled the way they'd write it. I'm thinking dialogue but that sort of thing would be obvious if they are communicating on a forum like this.

Back in the days of Yahoo chatrooms I used to go exploring chat topics that seemed niche or unusual. Some were location-based, which makes sense for people wanting to chat about local stuff.
And then I went into the Glasgow chatroom, where everybody except me was typing in dialect and I didn’t have a clue what anyone was saying. I quickly left.

 

[Astro Pen]

60 British phrases that will confuse anybody who didn't grow up in the UK

You don't want to be described as "dim," "a mug," or "a few sandwiches short of a picnic" by a British person.

uk.yahoo.com

A quite exhaustive guide to British slang.

I disagree that "the bees knees" was about small details. I think it is an intentionally accentuated pronunciation of saying something is "the business".
(Of course I might be wrong there, feel free to contradict that. )

ps I just noticed that the image they are using for "Doddle" is actually in French

 

[Harpo]

60 British phrases that will confuse anybody who didn't grow up in the UK

You don't want to be described as "dim," "a mug," or "a few sandwiches short of a picnic" by a British person.

uk.yahoo.com

A quite exhaustive guide to British slang.

I disagree that "the bees knees" was about small details. I think it is an intentionally accentuated pronunciation of saying something is "the business".
(Of course I might be wrong there, feel free to contradict that. )

Apparently the small details thing was the original meaning (18th century)

the bee's knees - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

en.m.wiktionary.org

 

[Ursa major]

Chuffed" means overjoyed and full of pride.

It can also mean "displeased".

I recall a conversation, back in the seventies at college, where people from different parts of the UK found out that their version of chuffed was not the same as other people's.

 

[farntfar]

I'd just like to point out that, since there seems to be no rule about how British people speak these days, I, too, am now completely inconsistent about how I pronounce schedule. I have the same sort of discussion with myself about it that I have each end of October, when I can't decide whether to put my clocks forward or back.
However there is no controversy about how to say controversy. There are simply many British celebs and others who get it wrong.

 

[THX1138]

It can also mean "displeased".

I recall a conversation, back in the seventies at college, where people from different parts of the UK found out that their version of chuffed was not the same as other people's.

Watching many UK shows here in the States over many years I have heard it used as 'overjoyed and full of pride' on some shows and 'displeased' on others. I have to pay attention to the behavior of the character in question or, if used in past tense, listen more closely to the dialog in order to follow along.

 

[beccabear67]

As a Canadian, if writing for a U.S. reader/publication I use the U.S. spellings. Most of the time I tend to find them more logical, or at least economical personally. Living in a border city in Canada I've developed dual spell checkers in my brain I think.

'Chuffed' I think of as someone being 'made up for' another person... a form of pleased. "We were made up for you when we heard", "they'll be chuffed when they get that news". Mostly in the family I got some Yorkshirese though, folk with bread and butter on table for tea. For some reason I'd never heard 'hang about' though... and years ago when someone from England said that to me and then abruptly left I was confused. They were wondering what I was playing at when they came back to find I'd scarpered, or legged it (in my incomprehension). They chased me down the street and then we sorted out that they'd gone to find something in another room they wanted to show me. I felt a right numpty.

 

[Yozh]

'Chuffed' I think of as someone being 'made up for' another person... a form of pleased. "We were made up for you when we heard", "they'll be chuffed when they get that news".

Living most all my life in U.S., this is the first i I’ve encountered this use of the phrase “made up for.” Learn something new every day!

 

[beccabear67]

Living most all my life in U.S., this is the first i I’ve encountered this use of the phrase “made up for.” Learn something new every day!

It came to me by way of Liverpudlians and people from that area circa the 1980s. However, I don't recall any Beatle saying it.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I'd just like to point out that, since there seems to be no rule about how British people speak these days, I, too, am now completely inconsistent about how I pronounce schedule. I have the same sort of discussion with myself about it that I have each end of October, when I can't decide whether to put my clocks forward or back.
However there is no controversy about how to say controversy. There are simply many British celebs and others who get it wrong.

I chop and change between the two. Probably the only word I do.

 

[Astro Pen]

Living most all my life in U.S., this is the first i I’ve encountered this use of the phrase “made up for.” Learn something new every day!

I've never heard it use that way in Britain either. To me it means "compensated for"
"His lack of skill is made up for by his boundless enthusiasm."

 

[paranoid marvin]

I've not heard 'made up for' in respect of bring happy, but I assumed 'made up' was quite common.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Think about your story, your characters and be consistent. Write in your own language, your own idiom etc. The rest is just trimming. Pretty sure an editor will change your spelling etc. The glorious TDZ, for example, had not heard of ‘puffa’ for a warm ‘quilted’ coat and asked me to change it when she was editing my story for The Haunting of Lake Manor Hotel.

As for mixing spelling — No. But mixing terminology is fine as long there is character congruency.

Fortunately or unfortunately in this world of hyper-connected populations these differences will work themselves out. Certainly in my schools the teachers accept z in writing as well as s because so many of our migrant communities have learnt English from American language schools etc.

 

[farntfar]

Yes. I've definitely heard made up as pleased or happy, both on its own: "he was made up when I fixed his toy"
or made up for, "I was made up for Jim when he passed his test."
And yes. Both in Liverpool. So it may be only local.

Otherwise, it can, of course, simply be "imagined" or "a story.