I have occasionally ecountered comments that pointed out my failings – one of them being misspellings.
My spelling ‘mistakes’ often get picked up on Facebook and (occasionally) on WordPress.
I like to think I’m very thorough when I’m writing and take pride in my spelling and grammar.
Yes, I soemtimes mis-type (who doesn’t?) as my ‘want to type’ speed exceeds my ‘able to type’ speed and my fingers become a pink blur above the keyboard.
However, when I begin to receive feedback that I ‘should check my speling’ (sic) and see one-word corrections for my spelling when there is nothing amiss, I begin to see red.
I’ve been told (more than once) that I use a lot of British English (BrE). Yes, that’s true. I’m British, my characters are English and their story takes place in England. That would follow, wouldn’t you think?
Apparently not.
Ciara Ballintyne appears to have the same problem and states her case here .
So recently, I’ve been writing British English, but with the knowledge that non-Brits may very well read my work. For instance, my character drives a Volvo ambulance instead of the (correct) locally-sourced type because only Brits would know what a Vauxhall Astra was. However, I don’t compromise on ‘labour’ or ‘honour’, ‘realise’ or ‘criticise’ because Brit readers would hate me for it. My characters use Pounds rather than Dollars. I was astounded when I was told that someone had to Google ‘Biro’ because it wasn’t clear that it was a ball point pen. What are those cheap, crystalline ball point pens made by BIC known as in the US – BIC pens?
These are things we need to know…
I had considered adding a disclaimer stating that the book contains ‘British English’ just to clarify. In this electronic age, the written word is spread far and wide and a novel in English could easily have been written in Australia, South Africa, Japan or any number of countries. I learned recently that along with Australia, Canada still uses BrE, which was a bit of a surprise. I wonder how many other countries do? I’d be interested to know that Britannia does not stand alone…
Write On!
Andrew Toynbee's very own Blog 
Nov 19, 2013 @ 18:17:26
Hmm, I would hope that most non-Brits wouldn’t be so ignorant as to not recognize that you’re clearly English. That’s kind of special. I do know that when it comes to books though, some minor words (like Biro to Bic) are changed just so that the readers aren’t pulled out of the story by unfamiliarity.
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Nov 10, 2013 @ 08:38:45
I’m afraid that I shall continue to ‘misspell’ colour and honour, regardless of the redlining. My document settings are all British English. Nor shall I cease to use the colloquialisms that make local speech rich and vibrant.
Though after having to explain that calling the dog ‘a bit of a bugger’ was a term of endearment rather than a sexual aberration, I may think twice about that one….
All I can say is God help anyone who comes across the dialect of Mrs Long in Sword of Destiny… 🙂
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Nov 07, 2013 @ 16:53:23
I love the BrE–have a collection of their terms for British characters. More importantly, my current favorite author is Val McDermid. I read all the Tony Hill novels (loving the BrE), then downloaded the TV series. Lots of ‘arse’, ‘bang’, and even a ‘Bob’s your Uncle’. Brilliant!
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Nov 08, 2013 @ 12:27:45
You love BrE? I am so chuffed. 😀
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Nov 06, 2013 @ 00:45:26
Great post. And thanks for following me on Cold, Andrew.
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Nov 04, 2013 @ 11:44:06
In SA we also teach British English in schools, though children aren’t penalised for using the American spelling or vocabulary. The end result is a weird mixture of the two. I’m happy as long as you’re consistent in your approach. I prefer the British spelling, but often use American terms for things.
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Nov 04, 2013 @ 13:55:50
I was looking into the stats for SA English. About 10% of the population seems to be the average figure. Does that sound right?
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Nov 04, 2013 @ 14:04:03
I think that’s about right in terms of people who speak it as first language. However, in most public schools it’s the language of teaching (I don’t know of any school where it’s not one of at least two languages taught as a subject) and I’d guess nearer to 90% of the total population (completely made-up statistic) can use it with varying levels of competence. I’m not a first language speaker myself, though I taught English Home Language for several years.
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Nov 02, 2013 @ 05:04:52
NZ, of course, uses British English and as Lynette says so do South Africans. I believe, formally, India does as well, but don’t quote me! I’m really not certain how it happened but somewhere along the way in my childhood I picked up on spelling some of my words the British way.
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Nov 03, 2013 @ 09:17:19
NZ… of course. Thank you J.G.
Can anyone else confirm India for me? It would make sense, woudn’t it?
J.G. – Have you been studying the events of 1914 in preparation for the upcoming anniversary?
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Nov 03, 2013 @ 21:01:52
I’ve been doing some casual studying on it since last year, but it’s been a wee bit limited as I’ve been focusing on the “human” and shipping aspect of the war (and touching on WWI-related songs). I understand “Green Fields of France” has been called an anti-war song, but it’s rather touching. Sad event in history.
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Nov 01, 2013 @ 13:51:23
In South Africa, we also use British English.
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Nov 01, 2013 @ 14:12:56
Thank you for letting me know, Lynette. 😀
*extends hand across the internet.*
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Nov 01, 2013 @ 16:09:41
Hi, Andrew. I’m in Northern Ireland now, but grew up in South Africa. *shakes hand – nice to meet you*
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Nov 01, 2013 @ 12:32:35
Yes! I love that you don’t compromise, neither to I. English is English and if others have decided to corrupt it… Although I do agree that stories should be in the English of the author. I do get fed up with the constant underlining when I comment, however – honour, labour, criticise …see, they are all underlined, but I’ll always insist they are correct 🙂
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Nov 01, 2013 @ 12:34:20
.. neither ‘do’ I… oops, now that’s a typo lol
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Nov 01, 2013 @ 13:43:00
They weren’t underlined at my end. 🙂 WordPress must have recognized (!) my geographical location. But yes, I see those wriggly lines all the time and it drives me crackers. Even ‘WordPress’ gets underlined sometimes. Go figure!
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Nov 01, 2013 @ 12:12:40
I get the same thing because I’m English and write in British English. Non-British people tend to get caught out whenever I use British slang, for example I had to explain to someone what a “chav” was – just the British slang for a kind of teenage delinquent.I tend to use colloquialisms quite a bit too and that sometimes confuses non-British people, but I never take words out that some people might not understand because using British terms lends a kind of authenticity to my writing.
Good luck with your future writing! 🙂
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Nov 01, 2013 @ 13:40:15
LOL. I do not envy your trying to explain ‘chav’ or even ‘chavulous’. I had to explain my use of the word ‘swan’ as a verb (as in ‘…you just swan in here, twenty minutes late…’) recently. It never occurred to me that it would cause confusion. 🙂
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Nov 01, 2013 @ 14:04:39
Wow even I’VE never heard of chavulous! What a fantastic word 😀
I don’t think I’ve actually ever used “swan” in my writing…in either sense, but I think I’ll have to try and fit it in somewhere 🙂
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Nov 01, 2013 @ 14:22:41
See also chav-tastic… 🙂
I always assumed (rightly or wrongly) that chav was an abbreviation of chavulous. I think ‘swan’ was a London word and was spread by TV programmes of ‘The Sweeny’ era. I’d be happy if anyone knows the true origin.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/swan lists it as a verb, but doesn’t do the definition justice. It hints at a lazy arrogance.
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Nov 01, 2013 @ 11:55:24
The problem is that most Americans until recently have not been exposed to British English because traditional publishers have been in the habit of releasing books for the American market that have been heavily edited to make them conform to American spelling and word usage.
So an American who reads the Harry Potter books would have no idea that Rowling used “colour” in the original manuscript rather than “color”. Hence the misapprehension that you are misspelling words when you are writing in British English.
This is changing, due to self publishing and the availability of media on the internet, but it’s not happening overnight. (I would venture to guess that there are actually more Americans who would recognize Vauxhall as automobile manufacturer than would know that a “biro” is a “pen”.)
I am currently in the process of editing an anthology of short stories written by authors from all over the world, and after some thought I have decided that each story should conform to the style of English used where the story is set. So a story set in America uses American English, a story set in the UK uses UK English, and so on. Will some readers find this confusing? Sure, but I am betting that the majority will accept the local vocabulary and spelling as part of the setting.
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Nov 01, 2013 @ 13:37:23
That sounds like an intriguing project. Yes, it would feel more natural to have the characters (and narrator) converse in the ‘local’ language. The only time that would not work would be if one of the characters was a visitor to the area. But for natives, definitely. Despite what I said in my post, I am now tweaking my US-bound ghostwriting to reflect that market. However, my English characters will definitely remain English! 😀
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