I am reading the Thirteenth Tale. I have come across a number of incidences where the words are spent based on the American English. Come on, the book is based on England can't the spelling reflect that, is that too much to ask?

Oh I hate that too. And I'd rather have a British copy of a book then to have them to Americanize it. :doh:

It goes the other way too. I was reading a British printing of a Jack Kerouac book and there were so many ridiculous Britishisms in the middle of this otherwise very American book. It was so off putting.

And we all know what happened when they imported Harry Potter to the USA. The publishers/editors were convinced that American kids wouldn't comprehend "Philosopher's Stone" and they chose to maximize the potential sales by changing the book's title to "Sorcerer's Stone". In some ways, you have to admit that it was a successful ploy.

My own personal US vs UK English gripe is that the Brits stick an extra syllable into "orient" and "oriented". "Orientate" and "orientated" just grind on my ears. I'll take color or colour, rationalize or rationalise, and honor or honour -- just keep your extra syllable out of my ears!

They did cut that down though.

If you read the HP books back to back, you may notice that in the first book (US edition) the candy to Dumbledore's tower is Lemon Drops.

In book 3, when Harry tries to use the same candy to get back in it's Sherbet Lemon.

Not a contingency error on Rowling's part, though... in the UK editions, it's the same in both books.

Um, yes, I have read the US and the UK editions... and read books 1-4 at least in one go. Sadly I don't have UK editions of books 5-7.

I'm reading Tipping the Velvet right now, and because there's not an Americanized version that I know of, I've had to look up the meaning of terms like renter and masher. :shrug:

And no, apparently they don't mean one who rents (an apartment) or one who mashes, say potatoes or squash or the like. :giggle:

LOL. I have that problems with movies. I watched Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels over the weekend and there had to be at least a dozen things I didn't understand.

A lot of the words in Tipping the Velvet aren't words in current usuage here either, so it's not just you!
Are you enjoying it?

:rofl: Yes! I had that problem, too!

And I was on my second-watching of Clockwork Orange before I figured out that they weren't even speaking "British," but some other language entirely, and that was why I was having more than the usual trouble making it out :lol:

Being Canadian, I lean heavily toward the British-English spellings (I mean, they did invent the language!), and I fully agree that a book about Britain ought to give the impression of Britishness :giggle: but I guess US editors are kindof hardwired for US spellings, eh?

I guess that would explain why I couldn't find a reference to renter then. :giggle:

But yeah based on it's context in the book, and a few google searches, I was able to figure out for sure that it applied only to male prostitutes, and not the whole occupation of them.

I'm liking it though.... it's not my usual genre, but it's an interesting enough "other genre" for me that it's able to hold my interest nonetheless, despite the fact that there's no vampires, werewolves, or otherworldly creatures. :wink:

It's actually going to Giz after... she won it in last year's Raiding Bookshelves Swap, and yes, I'm finally finding the time to go back through and read it. Cuz it's a long one... 472 pages! :o

What have I read recently that did the same thing to me? Oh yeah! There was a short story called Specks behind Pobby & Dingan that was written by a British author but set in rural America. The teenaged girl had a tendency to say things like "Yes, quite!" and it made me laugh. Er, sorry author dude, but not ah....quite. :giggle:

I just finished reading The Heroines. It's set in Illinois in the early '70's. I got annoyed that the author (more than once) had the main character who is 10 and 13 (at different points in the book), refer to her bedding as a "duvet". Now, *I* never heard of that word until I read Brit lit, and it's not necessarily an English-English word, but who ever heard of a 10- or 13-year-old who would use the word duvet in the US? :blink: :shrug:

Duvet is pretty commonly used in my neck of the woods back home, so I wouldn't think twice about that.....

Erm, my 11 year old calls it a duvet :rofl:

I think Ellymae's point is that in the US we don't call it duvet. ;)

In my neck of the woods, a duvet is a cover which goes on a down comforter. :shrug:

I edited my post for the smart-a$$e$ around here. :angry2: :rolleyes:


In reading up about London in preparation for my trip, I must ask: what do Brits have against Americans and their white sneakers (trainers)? That has been mentioned more than once, but no one has a real answer as to why!! :lol: I CERTAINLY don't want to offend the delicate sensibilities of the Londoners I encounter when this loud obnoxious AMERICAN comes to visit wearing white sneakers!!!! :rofl:

I did not know what a duvet was until last summer. I had to ask the sales associates at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Glad to know that others are with me on this. You would think that the editor would pick up on these things. I know that I have emailed authors about little things like that in the past and I am not sure if they care or not, but I feel better knowing that I did. :shrug:

Duvet!!

I had to introduce my American boyfriend to that concept.
And the concept of a couch.
And a toque.
And cheque. :giggle:

Yep, I've gone through it too!

And a serviette....
And a garburator......
And a tube steak.....

The list is seemingly endless - 5 years later we still come across the occasional word or expression!

My BF just moved back from New Zealand last year. He lived there for almost 4 years. I called him out when he said he LUXED the carpet!!! :rofl:

:lol: I like that!! Sounds like he got down and dirty with it!! :lol:

Isn't a couch a couch? I've always called it that. :shrug: Also call it a divan and sofa too.
And Rosie a tube steak makes me think naughty things. :rofl:

Er.... Those all sound like normally used words to little American me! :P

Except garburator. Sounds like carborator, begins like garden..... Carborator for a lawn mower or tractor? :giggle:

I'm sure they're regional too - I get laughed it for using those words here - and a lot of "huh?" Oh, another one is cutlery - I get blank stares at that! :lol:

Actually, people here call it a couch too - it's chesterfield they don't understand!

Garburetor = Canadian for garbage disposal - I will NEVER forget explaining this to a group of friends here when we were playing some kind of word game and I used garburetor - the room went silent and I couldn't think of alternate words so I had to take them to the kitchen and point! :rofl:

Around here they use call a toque a watchcap, and a serviette a napkin....

From my understanding:
Couch is usually sofa in the USA
Toque is usually beanie
Cheque is check
serviette is napkin
etc...

My bf really dislikes toque though, he keeps trying to get me to call it a beanie, but that sounds so weird to me!!

:lol: A beanie?? That's funny!!!

Oh, so it's a garbage-er-ator, not a garden carborator! I get it! :rofl:

I've run into the term chesterfield before, but yeah, I bet that one turns up mostly :blink: expressions in the US! :giggle:

I think of a toque as a kind of warm winter hat! :lol: :rolleyes: Well at least we've all got it on our heads! :giggle:

I only know one meaning for tube steak, and it's usually only used by nasty, icky horny guys around here. "Hey baby, wanna bite of my tube steak?" Freakin' horny hormone! :yuck: Or something a redneck would say.

Is there actually another meaning for it though? :unsure:

Summertime in Winnipeg, there are a number of hotdog vendors with their carts out along Broadway Avenue downtown. A long-standing one, with some of the best hotdogs ever, is named Mr. Tube Steak. Even growing up in rural Manitoba, a tube steak was always a hotdog to me. I was very grossed out and horrified when I found out what they use the expression for here - yeah, like you said, Cherie...... I had never heard that application until I moved here. I won't share the story of how I came to this knowledge here either...... :blush: and people back home couldn't believe it when I told them.... Poor old Mr. Tube Steak - he can never be quite the same for me.... but I still want to say we're having tube steaks when we're having hotdogs..... old habits die hard.....

ETA: You know, I just googled tube steak and three images came up - one of which was a hotdog - and if you looks at Answers.com for tube steak it defines it as a hotdog.... http://www.answers.com/topic/tube-steak-1 Of course, google also brought up the "other" definition..... :P

I have never heard of a toque before - we have beanies here in Au!! :giggle:

I'm not sure whether that's specific to one area of NZ but I've very rarely heard that used - usually it's vacuum.
I'm from the South Island where we say everything correctly - maybe he's from the North Island? They're always saying weird things. :giggle: My hubby's from the North Island and we always fight over crib/bach, belgium/luncheon sausage, etc.

I've never heard of toque (is it pronounced toke like take a toke of a joint?) - definitely beanie - it sounds so cute!
And I've usually heard serviette for a paper one, napkin for a cloth one.

Yah same here...maybe its a regional thing?

Washroom vs. Restroom!!!!!

Trunk v. Boot :lol:

Mind you, I still laugh when I'm reading US books that mention fanny quite a lot :rofl:

But we have fanny packs here... :shrug:

I know, but the UK meaning is quite different to the US :giggle:

OH YES, I definitely know not to mention that while in London! It's a bum bag, you know!! LOL

Currently, I'm listening to a Georgia Nicolson book in my car. Funnily enough, it was mentioned on it this morning that Georgia was wearing a black armband on July 4 because that was the day we (the U.S.) chucked their tea into the ocean and started our own language and ever since have worn panties instead of proper knickers! And we could go ahead and wrap ourselves in aluuuuuuuminum (Brits say it the correct way of alumiNIum) but she'd (Georgia) love us always until we came to our senses and let them rule over us again. :lol:


BTW, in searching for British English so I'd know the correct words to use while I'm there, I found this great site.

http://www.effingpot.com/people.shtml

I've been cracking up over it, especially the clothes - suspenders!! Funny how they came to mean such VERY different things! :rofl: Braces, too!