Brit-picking: vital or a waste of time?

[emmagrant01]

jedirita and I discussed this topic over lunch yesterday, and it pops up on LJ constantly. I've never given it much thought, honestly, because everyone who's ever called me for an Americanism has been extraordinarily nice about it. The culture in the HP fandom seems to be that writers should use British English whenever possible, and I'll admit that I've bought into that 100%. I always looked at it as a respect-for-canon issue.

Rita feels differently, though, as do a lot of other people. So I started thinking about it, and now I'm questioning my sudden zeal to make sure my HP fic is as Americanism-free as possible. Can I really accomplish that? And is it really a worthwhile goal, considering there are so many other more important things to work on as a writer?

I'll keep this brief because so many people have already said something about this at some point. I'm still forming my thoughts, and I won't bore you with anything half-assed, for once! ;-)

For now, I'll just point to this post by lykaios, and say. "Yeah. What she said."

Comments

[golden-snitch12.livejournal.com]

While I think it's nice for an author to try to write using British English, it doesn't ruin or spoil a story for me if it contains Americanisms. I read for enjoyment and don't expect an American writer to know every little nuance about how to write or speak like a Brit.

I'm sure bits of other cultures bleed into those country's authors' fanfics too, so I don't think a few Americanisms are errors that must be stamped out. There are more important elements to a story (i.e., grammar, punctuation, plot, etc.) than whether the writer refers to the kids' clothing as jumpers or sweaters. By now, all of us know what it means. As a reader, it is much more crucial to me that a story is well written with a good storyline.

This is just my humble opinion and not meant to disrespect the whole "respect for canon" issue.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I agree with you that when the differences are subtle, I'm not sure why people make such a big deal. It's one thing if Hermionie tries out for the cheerleading team, or if the Hogwarts students have a graduation complete with caps and gowns, or if Ron talks like Stiffler from American pie. I can totally understand why a Brit would find that completely annoying.

On the other hand, there are subtle differences, like the much-mentioned sidewalk vs. pavement or pants vs. trousers, that I feel shouldn't be such a big deal. We Americans say both pants and trousers, for example, but "trousers" sounds very stilted and old-fashioned. It's something your grandfather would say, so it feels more in-character for Harry to say "pants". It's ignorance, but it's coming from the right place, you know? We're trying, and I, for one, appreciate it when people kindly point those differences out to me. If someone dismissed my fic because Hermione served pancakes for breakfast and that's so obviously American, I'd say they missed the entire point of my story.