I think it's often a double-standard in fandom -- Brits bemoan American negligence, and often don't realize (realise!) that the same thing applies in reverse. We used to have delightfully funny and informative conversations about these things with Fay, in Natter mostly. "Pants are trousers?" "What on earth is a vest, Fay?"

I mean, I've totally been guilty of not paying close enough attention to the language, but if I wanted to write Harry Potter fic, I would certainly seek help from a British-type-person before posting it.

Mostly because I do not need more people up my ass, but hey...

A more extreme version of this phenomenon shows up in anime fandom. Some fans are hyper-aware of the shows' Japanese origins, to the point where their fics are larded with Japanese words or phrases when it's totally not necessary for the plot. Entire conversations may even be in Japanese. It's gotten to the point where some fics have footnotes and glossaries. Even worse, many of these people who are trying to "sound authentic" have a piss-poor grasp of Japanese grammar (or so I've heard--I don't know Japanese).

Personally, I think that sort of behavior is the worst kind of pseudo-intellectual arrogance.

That's the sort of thing a U.S. beta would be able to do without nearly as much soul-searching and second-guessing oneself.

This is true, Anne-- and I've had a couple of US folks beta it already. I should take deep breaths and relax; it's just I was really enjoying this fic, until suddenly bam! not any more, or at least, not nearly as much. It's annoyed me.

I think it's often a double-standard in fandom -- Brits bemoan American negligence, and often don't realize (realise!) that the same thing applies in reverse.

There are some times it's not easy-- I'm quite aware of the vocabulary, I think, but I do use British spellings, and that may annoy some. I don't notice spelling as much when I read, though. I had quite a fight with one beta when I was writing in M*A*S*H fandom-- I wrote a section of diary or letter, in an American voice, and she wanted me to use American spellings in it. I forget what I decided in the end, but it wasn't an easy choice to make.

A more extreme version of this phenomenon shows up in anime fandom. Some fans are hyper-aware of the shows' Japanese origins, to the point where their fics are larded with Japanese words or phrases when it's totally not necessary for the plot. Entire conversations may even be in Japanese. It's gotten to the point where some fics have footnotes and glossaries.

Firefly fandom has something similar at times-- because the show used Chinese words, people try and copy that, but they don't get the translations right (I'm told), and they have to put footnotes, and stuff. It can work, but it can be overdone (and the show itself struggled, I think). The whole question of what's atmosphere and colour, and what just gets in the way of telling to story, is a very thorny one.

I wouldn't worry about the spellings in your SV story, Am, any more than you worry about our not understanding "realise" around here -- and, in fact, I'd be annoyed on your behalf at anyone who wanted them changed. Things like color vs. colour are utterly transparent, and I've never been thrown by them. It's the "he'd never say that" moments that make a story go wrong, on either side of the language question.

(That said, the letter or diary is an interesting case -- I'd probably side with the beta on that one, since in theory you're reproducing the character's words. But on the other hand, it'd make UK vs. US spellings much more of an issue than it ever really is, because the switching back and forth could really draw attention to them. Hmm. Must ponder. Must find examples on both sides. Must waste another day not getting anything useful done. Go team me.)

The whole question of what's atmosphere and colour, and what just gets in the way of telling to story, is a very thorny one.

I think that if someone were to dive into a foxhole just as a bomb went off, that I would interpret their shout of "Xplrgl!!!" as some sort of expletive. That's the sort of foreign word usage that doesn't bother me. Oaths, expletives, etc. are all fair game, as are nicknames ("mei-mei" for "little sister," and that sort of thing).

Saying "Passe-moi du sel, s'il te plait," (Pass the salt, please) is just unnecessary set-decoration, unless a character's inability to understand a language (or unwillingness to speak a certain language) is important to plot or character development.

I had quite a fight with one beta when I was writing in M*A*S*H fandom-- I wrote a section of diary or letter, in an American voice, and she wanted me to use American spellings in it. I forget what I decided in the end, but it wasn't an easy choice to make.

My initial reaction to something like this would be "It's written, of course it should have American spellings," but then I thought about how weird that would look in a story that had British spellings otherwise. Interesting question.

The US version of the latest Harry Potter book was terrible about the Americanisms/Britishisms thing. I thought the editors went way too far with the "translations" in the previous books (when I was a kid, I always thought it was cool to find out that people said lorry or bonnet or jumper, and I found it really distracting to be reading an obviously British kids book with trucks and hoods and sweaters), but in the latest one, it seemed like they only switched phrases that had been introduced in previous books (like "Weasley sweater") and left it alone otherwise, so sometimes the same garment would be referred to as a sweater and a jumper within a page or two of each other.

I never would have noticed "gotten" in something I'd written. I know that British people don't say "gotten," but it's so ingrained in my head as just a word, not a specifically American one, that if I was writing Harry Potter stuff, I'd have to have a British beta to catch things like that.

I wrote a section of diary or letter, in an American voice, and she wanted me to use American spellings in it.

It's a difficult decision to make. I suppose I should use Canadian spelling when writing from Fraser's POV, but generally I don't. For me, it's a fine line to walk so that I'm not entering into that pseudo-intellectual arrogance territory. When a story is highly stylized anyway, I feel more free to play, but I always worry that I'm mucking things up, you know?

Mostly I tend to write like an American, because that's what I know, even if I betray myself at times by saying things like "in hospital" and "at university".

Joy. I'm working myself into a neurotic dance of paranoia. I'll probably go home tonight and dig through all my fanfic on a mission to eradicate umpty-billion glaring errors. Whee!

I suppose I should use Canadian spelling when writing from Fraser's POV

Well, you're lucky there, since I was told the Canucks go either way.

Well, you're lucky there, since I was told the Canucks go either way.

With Fraser, it's practically canon, anyway...