Am, I'm loving this. But there's one bit that threw me enough to where I honestly didn't know who was speaking:

"True—but that could be a good thing. If you let me put these down inside, I’ll go and fetch the rest—Xander gave me a lift, but he couldn’t stay to help carry."

For the second time that day he stood back to allow me to enter. This time, I went back past him almost at once, saying, "I can help for maybe two hours, then I must be off again."

"Fetch" and "must be off" - you'd say it, I'd say "off again" as a half-half Anglo-American, but Willow? She's a nice Jewish girl from southern California. I can't imagine her using either of those terms. they're purely UK.

The rest? I am sooooo loving this.

Drat. USians don't use 'fetch'?

(Stoopid Canadian parents.)

Drat. USians don't use 'fetch'?

Rarely. Very, very rarely. And then they're usually heavy-duty readers of Britlit.

I still have some leftovers from being dragged all over the place as a kid - I'll use "right, I'm off" and I have never got out of the habit of saying "mind that idiot on the bicycle!" instead of "look out for" or whatever. But honestly - try imagining Willow using clasic Britspeak in her own accent.

I'm from a family of fetchers.

Some things (marks, writing exams, to(u)ques, university, pissed for drunk, chesterfield, washroom) are obvious. Fetch, NSM.

(Adds new one to list.)

(My vocabulary, spoken, has altered a great deal since I started watching TV like an obsessive, but I am beginning to understand why I was frequently mistaken for an exchange student.)

(I'm slow.)

Hee! I still say university as well, and it takes me a moment when people say they're going to college.

Oh, and there's another one: "as well." I use "too" only in very specific circs: "Hey! Me too!"

Thanks for the pointer, deb. The classic Britspeak in my own accent, and that I'm writing in Giles and Spike, affects the Americans at times.

Is

"True—but that could be a good thing. If you let me put these down inside, I’ll go and get the rest—Xander gave me a lift, but he couldn’t stay to help carry."

For the second time that day he stood back to allow me to enter. This time, I went back past him almost at once, saying, "I can help for maybe two hours, then I have to get to class."

Am, yup, definitely. I'd be tempted to add something like "...carry stuff" at the end of the first one, just because I can hear Willow saying it.

It's a huge balancing act, isn't it? I'm Britlingual but I'm sadly lacking in the current slang - even "pants!" was new to me as of a year ago. So mine is the phrasing and slang I used as a child, and I'd bet a lot of it is obsolete.

It's difficult. But I think you're right about "carry stuff"-- very Willow.

Do you ever find yourself wanting to write something with phrases like "going down the pub" or "going out to the shops", and then remember, it's an American speaking, and really, they wouldn't?

I've programmed myself to double-check in my head for that. Because I do it all. the. time.

Actually, I'd say "Xander gave me a ride" because a lift is pretty Brit too.