English Vs US English?

[jenna]

I much prefer the proper U.K. English. It looks prettier, and reads better. I always stumble over U.S. English...

[anthorn]

Actually to the person who said that they did'n ttake their genes from us.

I f you read history. Your great great ancestors will have come from england, so there.

[Peter Graham]

I'm with the Americans on this one.

It is simply wrong to say that UK English is "better" than US English or that US English is some sort of half-baked bastardisation of the real thing. US English is, in many ways, much closer to the English of two or three hundred years ago than is our own. It has been less influenced by recent fashions and trends and many things that we Britons smirk at - "gotten" being a prime example - are things that we used to say as well.

True, there was some sort of US campaign towads more phonetic spelling of words - thus "color", "neighbor" and "sox" (although I suspect that isn't ever really used), but our own "correct" spellings of those words were heavily influenced by fashion and the need to make everything look pretty and Latinate, even when it wasn't.

I am very pleased to hear JF Lewis reveal that all Americans apparently are stetson wearing gun nuts who say "y'all" and with that in mind, I am off to sing the national anthem and write a treatise on how emancipation and/or republicanism are crimes against God, before retiring to my private chambers to bed another serving wench and throw a baby onto the fire.

Tally-Ho!

Peter

[SJAB]

Originally Posted by Laerten

Not sure which section to put this in:

What is the acceptable 'language' for writing in? Most of the books I read are by American authors and there are some spelling differences that are quite noticable to me.

The Enghlish you feel most comfortable with i.e. your normal for you, the one you were taught at school

If I was to send off sample chapters to e.g. an American publisher would they just think that I can't spell correctly?

No, is the simple answer.

[Peter Graham]

Actually to the person who said that they did'n ttake their genes from us.

I f you read history. Your great great ancestors will have come from england, so there.

Or Scotland. Or Ireland. Or Wales. Or France. Or Italy. Or Germany. Or Latin America. Or Mexico. Or South America. Or Spain. Or the Carribean. Or Portugal. Or the Netherlands. Or West Africa. Or East Africa. Or South East Asia. Or China. Or perhaps they were there already, as Navajo, Sioux, Algonquin etc etc etc.

The Americans are like us - a big mongrel porridge of just about anything. Genetically speaking, they are no more "English" than the British are....

Peter

[Laerten]

I didn't mean to spark off an International Incident with my question - everyone always feels passionately about their country and heritage.

[fire_elf20]

you forgot native american

[jenna]

Originally Posted by Peter Graham

I am very pleased to hear JF Lewis reveal that all Americans apparently are stetson wearing gun nuts who say "y'all"

I've spent a fair bit of time in the U.S, and while I didn't see any stetson wearing gun nuts, a big percentage of people definitely said "y'all"! I liked it, and I picked it up to the annoyance of everyone when I came back home. I have a big love of slang and colloquialisms and I always pepper my speech with them. The big thing that really got at me about American language was the tendency to throw in random "all"'s into sentences ie "what all do you want for dinner?" and "who all is going to the shops?" etc, it still irritates me when I hear it! And I know, people have tried explaining it to me, but I still hate the sound of it!

Oh and to the original question I would say, the person reading your manuscript will be a professional and will be used to both English versions, so just write whatever you were taught. If you try to change to a different style chances are it won't be consistent anyway, and that's what will make you look bad..

[chrispenycate]

Well., I don't speak American English, although I understood it across most of the United States (some problems in Texas and Louisiana) And when I spoke British English to them, they generally understood me (as far as anyone ever understands me. I made an effort not to use any long words)
However, one of the crew came from Glasgow, and thus, presumably, also spoke British English, but had noticable problems in making himself understood. Obviously it is not merely the Atlantic which causes problems.
Compared with the divergence of Quebecois French from the root language, American and English have hardly separated at all, and I put this down to Hollywood and television maintaining the information flow over the last century, but I could be completely wrong (difficult to run a double blind experiment)
But regional variations within the British Isles (even if they're officially not written variations) are at least as major as the transatlantic split.

[Marky Lazer]

Originally Posted by pyan

My old English teacher used to say:

That's odd, considering the English speak 0.7 languages

[Lith]

When I was in Britain, I found most often that problems in understanding were due more to word choice than vocabulary or pronounciation- they simply used different phrases than I was used to, and it took time to figure it out. And I was disappointed at how little Scottish and Irish accents I heard, but given that I was already under enough stress, I suppose it's good that I didn't have communication difficulties as well.

Anthorn, you must remember that as an American I have absolutely no use for history. Or, as my sister says, "I don't care for anything older than I am". Okay, that's a lie, but my point is that we didn't take, we are, even if my name is completely unpronounceable by anyone's English standard.

[The Ace]

Oh come on, Marky, I speak English, French, some German and a few words of Spanish. Mind you, I'm not English.

[Xwing Mom]

The only folks who really have a problem with the different spellings are American English teachers. I had one in college that I took for Creative Writing. I'm American, but I grew up on British authors, so favour the British spellings in nearly everything.

My teacher consistently counted off a letter grade. I tried telling her this was a CREATIVE writing class, not an English grammar class. Of course, she also counted off when I had characters call a widowed character "Miss" instead of Mrs. Obviously, the teacher wasn't from Texas!

For the record, I had my first novel published with an American company, using British spellings. The only "negative" comments I've had were from well-meaning friends who think I've misspelled something!

[Wiglaf]

Americans should use American spelling; the rest of you all should probably use British spelling. First of all, you are more likely to be correct using your native spelling. Without additional changes, you will be writing one with the other's spelling. At least with a different spelling you have a clue as to the reason for less common wordings or outright "foreign" words.

[Kissmequick]

Well, would you change other words to Americanisms? trainers to sneakers? Choccy to candy? If not, I wouldn't worry about the spelling.

I've read enough american authors to have a vague idea what a hershy bar is for example, but it's not exactly going to spoil the story if I don't, or if they say the squirrel is gray. I'm sure the agent / publisher will let you know if they want to change it, but if they like the story it shouldn't put them off. If they're good ofc.

( on a side note I just submitted to a US publisher, and I asked before I submitted. They were perfectly happy for it to be subbed in Brit english)