panik | US/UK spellings - yup, that hoary old chestnut again...

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US/UK spellings - yup, that hoary old chestnut again...

So I'm working through the beta for my fic (praise be to the

betagoddess) and I don't know what to do about the (cue organ chord, wolf howl) spelling...

It's a TS story; the characters are, as we know, Americans; that means no un-American word usage and phraseology - fine, I get that - but spelling? Do two Americans have to be spelled American?

I've done this both ways in the past, but mostly used my own Brit spelling because it's easier and I don't honestly believe we spell as we speak. But then, I get fb that tells me 'the spelling really took me out of the story' -

And I'm thinking; 'why'? Because I read American spelling in say, Doctor Who fic and all that makes me think is - the author's American. So long as British characters aren't keeping bodies in the trunk, it doesn't matter that that spare that's in the way is spelled tire and, in all honesty, my first reaction is to tell the Americans to suck it up because by far the largest chunk of the English-speaking world spells British anyway and we don't care so why should everyone else have to change to make life easier for you? - or that's to say, the few who bother to send fb complaining about it. (o:

But then, I'm getting that fb and sometimes, I cave. I used US spelling for Wind Whispering - even though it looked weird and wrong and took forever to change.

So, I'm asking an honest question of you all - does it matter, really? And if it does, why (I thought about making this a poll, but I shan't because I need more than yes or no answers; I need explanations, dammit. (o) If it really, truly, honest-to-god makes a real difference, I shall use your blasted spelling (*G* - even though it looks... really strange and will take me all day) but if it does, I'd really love to know, and why.

ETA: And messing with this all afternoon means I've done NO work - none at all - on the actual story (which was the whole point, wasn't it?) *g*

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For what it's worth, I have to stomp on myself not to use "grey" (and I forget sometimes) -- it looks so much greyer than "gray" does.

I do probably notice most of the extra "u" spellings (not always the s/z ones), but they don't bug me. In a professionally published work I guess I'd expect the spelling to follow the nationality of the POV (but what if there were two main characters and one was British and the other American? And the story was set in Tierra del Fuego? ::rolls eyes::). In fanfic, though, I don't worry about it as a reader (especially if the idiom is rock solid).

I also have profound respect for people who are writing outside their own native idiom -- I really doubt I could do it myself (and will probably never have the courage to try). There are so many small things (as well as large things) that go into the way language is used in different countries (or different regions within those countries) -- spelling is way down on the bottom of the list to me as long as it's consistent throughout.

Having said this, I admit -- in my personal and quirky obsessiveness -- that (since I read out loud in my head as I go along), when I do notice 'flavour' and 'honour' etc., I pronounce them slightly differently, which gives me a slightly different feel about what I'm reading. It doesn't keep me from enjoying what I'm reading in the least (and sheesh, I'd never even fuss in my own head about it, much less to the author), but it gives me the same effect as if I was reading Barbara Pym or Jane Austen, and "color" or "candor" was used instead of "colour" and "candour" -- the American version "looks" flatter to me and sounds less like the people and the location.

So -- I notice (if I were reading Pros I'd notice American spellings for the same reason, I think), but it doesn't interfere with my ability to enjoy the story or with my respect for the writer and her talent and whatever choices she makes.

P.S. -- I'm not actually checking one of the ticky boxes on the poll because I agree with all three answers at the same time, at least in some small part; and while my main answer is probably "Whatever works for you" tiny percentages of my brain are chasing around shrieking "No!" and "Yes!" at each other.

::unhelpful opinion from a person who sees -- in way too many circumstances-- a million shades of ~~grey~~ gray::

And the story was set in Tierra del Fuego

Weren't you going to exile yourself there for some reason or other? ::Wonders what mysterious attraction to Tierra del Fuego exists for you and if it's nice can I come too?::

and now I'm wondering if you can use colour in html or not.

doing a little experiment here. did it work?</font? Laurie.

Well, that was interesting, apparently the first part of the code where I used 'colour' went into a black hole.

and the answer to my question is... No.

Laurie

Huh. Did you use 'colour' for "And the story was set in Tierra del Fuego" or 'color'? because that's blue, anyway.

And huh again. Maybe I *do* have a secret subconscious desire to run away to Tierra del Fuego. (Except it's probably too cold.) But there are certainly days when living at the far and wild ends of the earth seems like a plan. (As long as I have LJ and TS, that is. ::packs up Laurie and takes her along::)

I used 'color' for the first html code and the sentence came out in blue print.

I got curious then, so I tried a test sentence in html using the spelling 'colour'. It didn't show this part of the code and didn't change color/colour at all. <font colour= I don't want to finish the code in case it disappears again. So, the html codes uses american spelling, apparently. Laurie

Colour...?

Is the thread getting to you, hon? ::giggle::

Never really thought much about it before, but I did change my spelling in a Sentinel Thursday story because the prompt was spelled colour. I thought I'd better match it. Didn't think about it being British spelling, just that it was spelled with a variation.
Laurie

'it looks so much greyer than "gray" does'
Hee. That is just so 'you'. (o:

If I eventually decide to change the spelling it will be because you feel it's important. I don;t but I respect your opinion, hon.

::looks defensive:: It *does* -- "e" is silvery-grey and "a" is charcoal-gray. Sorta. (See, silver has an "e" in it and charcoal has two "a"s -- which has to mean something, right? even though I never actually thought of it that way before. But I now realize I tend to want to use 'gray' only when I'm picturing darker shades. Oy. ::pretends she is perfectly sane and a responsible member of society:: Moving right along...)

-- "If I eventually decide to change the spelling it will be because you feel it's important. I don;t but I respect your opinion, hon." Shit, Gilly. That's beyond nice of you to say, but please don't change the spelling because of me babbling on about spelling in general! I find myself tongue-tied at the prospect and flailing my hands at you. (And anyway, I think back to when I first read your fics -- months and months before I met you; had no clue about where you live -- I don't remember ever feeling sidetracked by anything British, just wowed and completely caught up by the stories. That doesn't change, won't change. So you shouldn't change because of anybody else's thoughts, especially Many-Shades-of-Grey/Gray Me. !!)

.
Many-Shades-of-Grey/Gray

That's it! I use 'grey' in preference to 'gray' (forget which is American and which is Brit, actually), and I couldn't figure out why. Partly it looks 'greyer' to me, but why? It just hit me... Have you ever read the 'Fafherd and the Grey Mouser' books? (Not sure of the spelling for Fafherd, and I forget the author -- SciFi/fantasy). Anyway, I read three or four of them, back when I was young; I guess that spelling just seeped into my subconscious.
.

"A" is American, "E" British -- but most of the time when I write it I almost feel compelled to use 'e' because of its lovely greyness.

And yes, I loved the Grey Mouser! I read as many of those books as I could get my hands on and still every now and then think of them fondly ::adds them to impossibly long To Read Again list:: I was thoroughly taken by that character and the friendship between the two heroes/anti-heroes. ::beams, wishing she had a stack of the books in front of her right now (like she has time to read them)::

Gray/grey -- I didn't have a clue which was which. I don't think anything about words being spelled differntly for different dialects/countries was ever mentioned when I was in school. On the other hand, since I spent a lot of time daydreaming about flying around with Peter Pan or living in the wilderness, I could have entirely missed the lesson.

Laurie

Did you ever read My Side of the Mountain, with the boy who goes and lives inside a tree in the wilderness for months, on his own? Man, I loved that book. It was wonderful. I so wanted to do that... Of course, I wouldn't have minded flying, either. Peter Pan was just magic...

Hmm... I don't think they taught us anything about different spellings in my schools, either; I just was a Tolkien junkie and re-read David Copperfield once a year and adored British-English books -- anything I could get my hands on. Britain was absolutely my spiritual home back then and I probably just absorbed some awareness of the spelling by osmosis.

'Did you ever read My Side of the Mountain, with the boy who goes and lives inside a tree in the wilderness for months, on his own?'
YES!!! Geoff Guthrie read it to us in second year when I'd've been 8 or 9. Oh God I LOVED that book!

::beams and squees with Gilly:: And you know Blandings Castle, too, and being covered in leeches is a very big interest of yours -- the Ideal Renaissance Person. ::beams some more, incandescently::

Funny, though -- most of the time I was prejudiced against American books while I was growing up (not Dr. Seuss, of course! But books for older kids). I wanted to be in England and I wanted to read books that were set in England. American stories were (almost) always matter-of-fact and ordinary and preachy. British books seemed to hold universes of fantasy and beauty and fascinating people, and seemed less about An Uplifting And Moral Story than about a real story. And I am feeling extremely nostalgic... so *many* fabulous books I wanted to live inside...

Ah, if only life was like it is in the books... (o:

I loved Mark Twain when I was a kid. I fear I may have a romanticised view of America because of it *g*

Did you ever read My Side of the Mountain, with the boy who goes and lives inside a tree in the wilderness for months, on his own? Man, I loved that book. It was wonderful

Read it, re-read it, made sure my brothers and sisters read it, my children read it, re-read it as an adult. It was one of the major influences on my current lifestyle, that and watching How the West Was Won three times,(school trip, Girl Scouts, and with family) on the big screen theatre. There was this lyric sung to the tune of Greensleves that I fell in love with and imprinted on my mind.

Come way, come way, come way with me
Where the hills are high and the grass is green.
Come, come to the wonderous land
and I'll build you a home in the meadow

So, when my I met my husband and he was telling me the same thing...

Well, between those two influences from my childhood, plus the hippie stuff..
I was hooked and that 's why I'm living in Kentucky, in a beautiful holler, surrounded by trees, with a creek in the yard.
Laurie

Well I do respect you - be glad; I respect so few... *g*

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US/UK spellings - yup, that hoary old chestnut again...

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