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

[panik]

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*

Comments

[laurie-ky.livejournal.com]

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.

[laurie-ky.livejournal.com]

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

[t-verano.livejournal.com]

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::)

[laurie-ky.livejournal.com]

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

[gillyp.livejournal.com]

Colour...?

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

[laurie-ky.livejournal.com]

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

[laurie-ky.livejournal.com]

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. Hah! Just had a thought, if somebody reads that story, they might think I was from England. Too funny!
Laurie