Something helpful...maybe?

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds by posting here, but I found something I'd like to share.
I'm trying not to embarrass myself with my BB story by using to many 'americanisms'. I found a website that 'translates' americanisms into brit speak for the uninitiated! It may not be as helpful as I'd hoped, but I did find it quite amusing. The website is

http://septicscompanion.com

Use the browse by category option of the left to search for topics of interest (not really sure why it defaults to sex.... hmmm....). I was wandering around the 'Travel and Transport' topic and found the 'caravan' and 'lay-by' definitions to be quite amusing (if not totally true!)

Anyway - hope you enjoy it and for those of us from 'across the pond' - it just may prove useful too!

Comments

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

wow! don't know why it used such a huge font for my secret! No hiding now! Sorry about that....

[hagsrus.livejournal.com]

You might also enjoy the Glossary of British Usage in the Pros Era which takes into account the time of the series.

http://hatstand.slashcity.net/charinfo/britgloss.html

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That looks like it will be quite helpful.

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

The more places people can find the info the better! There's nothing more irritating than Americanisms in a story set in 70s/80s London! Actually, I like the hatstand one better. But there are couple of things I found odd. 'Petrol stations' in the 70s would only have referred to the motorway variety (more commoonly service stations) - all others were garages, whether they did any work on cars or not. I still use the term 'garage'. Also, we celebrated Hallowe'en - we just didn't have the commercial stuff to buy or the habit of trick-or-treating; it was ghost stories and bobbing for apples, mostly. One word that is always cropping up that neither site mentions is 'mooch' which in American seems to refer to minor theft or freeloading and in England means sulking or wandering around miserably. As neither of these sites was available to early Pros authors I suppose we have to forgive them some of the more excruciating mistakes. *g*

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

That's the thing with definitions, they do vary even within a country. For instance, I would have said "mooch" means just what you said it means, although it does ring a bell that it can also mean a sort of freeloading. *g* But that's one of the hard things when you're an American writing Pros--I can ask two Brits about a word, and get different answers. Just as two Americans might not agree on "mooch". Ack! *g*

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Of course you aren't. :D

We're always interested in handy links for writers... or for our artists for that matter.

[hambelandjemima.livejournal.com]

Lol, the definition of lay-by looks pretty accurate to me *g*

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

I guess I should make it clear, that I was talking about the kids vomiting part...I wouldn't know anything about the other bits! *g*

[m31andy.livejournal.com]

Nice website!

Both caravanning and lay-by look pretty spot on to me.

(Have you ever watched Top Gear? There's a particularly good 'caravanning special'...)

[saintvic.livejournal.com]

Fantastic, thanks for the link!

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. Though not being more American than British or even a native English speaker, I have to simply trust my Scottish beta. What's a BB story by the way?

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

BB for Big Bang. :-)
I use a lot of acronyms at work - sometimes I get carried away!