Speaking of etiquette, I was just reading these SPN RPG character descriptions [link] and thinking they were really neat, and recognising the artists of the first two card pics, and then....got to the end of the post. Damn, man! That's so not cool, especially when you could have used photos and gotten away clean. Pretending to be polite doesn't make it better.

Which is disappointing, because they'd have been real cool if they weren't bothering the artists.

What's wrong with ridiculous?

It's not widely used as a general adjective in U.S. slang, at least in my experience, the way the British writers use it almost constantly. "Ridiculous hat," "ridiculous hair," "ridiculous face," etc. You might occasionally hear someone say "that's ridiculous!" in denial of an unlikely theory—or just one that hits too close to home—but Brits use it the way "silly" or "stupid" would normally be used here.

I had no idea. But I'm bad at the subtle stuff.

Not sure how to research that further. Hmm. All the high google hits are American, but so's most of the web.

Admittedly it's not so out-of-place that the meaning isn't clear (as it would be for your average American if words like lorry and torch were used). But it's enough of a Britishism that it throws me out of the story briefly and makes me imagine whoever's speaking as doing so in a British accent.

Ridiculous might be a regional preference. Or it might just be me.

I had no idea.

Neither did I. I use the word a ridiculous amount. Enough that I try to edit at least one out of every email or post or text. I must have picked it up somewhere.

I'm reading a Tony/Steve fic where the author is ridiculously fixated on Tony's excretions. They must have mentioned the problems with developing a waste collection device for a new suit at least ten times, and now I have to read about how he's punched a hole in the wall to dump it, complete with tossing a curtain on top to sop it up. I appreciate the nod to realism, except that it's not a nod, it's TMI. Mention it once or twice, move on. People poop, no need to dwell.

Please tell me the Hulk isn't in the poo fetishist's story long enough for it to become an issue.

I'm actively trying not to think about how that might be related, but, no, Banner's tertiary on the poop front.

After seeing all those Britishisms in American SPN stories, I tried a Who crossover and a Harry Potter fusion and...REALLY? Have you any memory of either work? "Blimey" does not make Dean British. Better off pretending it's not English than that Mary Poppins chimney sweep bullshit.