Colloquial language
Apr. 25th, 2007 08:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jmc_bksI'm rereading Emma Holly's Menage, which has been reissued. When I first read it, eons ago, well, more like 7 years ago, I knew that the publisher was British, so the British slang and phrases in it didn't strike me as strange, even though it is set in Philadelphia. If I had thought about it at all, I would have assumed that the author was British as well and thought that was why the slang was slightly off for American characters. But as I reread, I'm finding the British slang coming out of American mouths to be more noticeable and a bit awkward, especially since I now know that Holly is an American author (I ran across a thread inquiring a few months ago) I'm guessing the British slang was edited in because of the publishing house and its anticipated audience?
And this reminds me of a recent conversation I had with The Biochemist about a big argument in her fandom. One member of the community reviewed older work and found things that would be beta'd out of her work now, but which she decided to leave alone. A reader informed her that her use of "gotten" was inappropriate for a Briton, and as a result the entire work was crap. Seems to be an extreme opinion, but the discussion (and flame war?) that went on afterward made it clear that there are people all over the spectrum on the appropriateness of regional slang for characters.
And was it just me, or did John McCain come off as more than a bit desperate last night on The Daily Show?
And this reminds me of a recent conversation I had with The Biochemist about a big argument in her fandom. One member of the community reviewed older work and found things that would be beta'd out of her work now, but which she decided to leave alone. A reader informed her that her use of "gotten" was inappropriate for a Briton, and as a result the entire work was crap. Seems to be an extreme opinion, but the discussion (and flame war?) that went on afterward made it clear that there are people all over the spectrum on the appropriateness of regional slang for characters.
And was it just me, or did John McCain come off as more than a bit desperate last night on The Daily Show?
