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...

I think that spellings are pretty transparent, but usage and vocabulary aren't.

I was told the Canucks go either way.

Well, Fraser certainly does. Oh, wait --

Fandom is a strange beastie. I once had someone e-mail me about a story because I had not used the French spelling of dishabille. Granted, I believe Fraser would have this information at the ready, but there is nitpicking, and then there is callous and strange nitpicking.

Apropos of very little, you know what I love? Canadian dictionaries have entries for "eh," and this pleases me.

On the language issue, there was something I was reading (I'm pretty sure it was RENTfic) where two of the characters were having a conversation in Spanish, and the entire thing, including the "How are you doing? Are you well?" "Yes, Mama. Have you heard from Carlos lately?" things that weren't relevant to the story at all, were written in Spanish, then had the English translation in brackets. But the Spanish translations were obviously done by just running the dialague through bablefish.

And the thing was, this was a phone conversation, and the main character was in a room with someone who didn't know Spanish. The author could have easily written two lines of the conversation in Spanish, then switch to mentioning that this other character was bored because he couldn't understand was was going on, then just get in the last line of Spanish and have him ask what had just happened. It would have annoyed me so much less.

Canadian dictionaries have entries for "eh," and this pleases me.

So does my USian one, actually. NOAD roolz!

It's the "he'd never say that" moments that make a story go wrong, on either side of the language question.

The other time it's a problem is in third person narration-- is that my voice, or not? For example, Clark walked round the front of the car, and I said he walked round the bonnet-- a UK phrase. My beta wanted it to be the hood-- what Clark would say or think, yes, but should the third person be his voice?

(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.)

Yeah-- it was tricky. I've just checked, and in the end I kept British spelling throughout, both in "Various Versions" and the "Explanations" series, which was were the question arose.

Oaths, expletives, etc. are all fair game, as are nicknames ("mei-mei" for "little sister," and that sort of thing).

In fanfic, I've tended to feel that examples used in the canon were allowed-- but because Firefly canon used so many, the question of where to start/stop them in fanfic was difficult.

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.

Even then, if what they're saying is important, as well as the lanaguae they're saying it in, I'd feel I wanted to translate in the body of the text, or have it all actually in English and remark, "he said, still stubbornly in German."

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!

You're not the only one stepping onto that dance floor.

So does my USian one, actually.

I covet your dictionary. My neighbor's wife, not so much, which indicates that the Ten Commandments were not written with me in mind.

If Laurence Fishburne moved in next door, that would sway the conversation.

Er. For on-topic-cakes, everyone who likes spy fic really ought to read Dana's new story, yes yes.