Doctor Who and the Foreign Writer
Everyone's done it. You sit in front of a keyboard and suddenly words appear on your nice, clean and blank word processor's sheet. A letter, then a word, then a sentence. Sentences become paragraphs. Paragraphs become chapters. And, sooner or later, you have a story.
Problem is that the key to writing for many people is writing what you know. That's brilliant. Exactly what you're supposed to do, really. Even in science fiction, write what you know.
Now, as an American, I know this country rather well. I know the slang, the lingo, the holidays. I go on vacations and celebrate the Fourth of July with a big fireworks display. I celebrate Thanksgiving and hop on the subway and walk on the sidewalk.
Thing is, that tends to come out in writing. I know that when I started writing Doctor Who - and this is a fundamentally British show - my writing was full of Americanisms. The Doctor and Rose went on vacation. The TARDIS was parked a few blocks away. The Doctor raised his glass of eggnog and Rose asked, "Have you gotten it?" Etc.
I'm lucky in that I've written British English before. My language has always been a smörgåsbord of American English, British English and Spanish (not to mention a few other languages thrown in for good measure). Even with that, I still had the problem with the slang.
Plenty of people do. (Having a Brit-picker is fantastic {{hugs to wendymr}} and, when in doubt, there's dw_britglish too)
So, I figured that I'd write up a little list of the common mistakes that Americans (and others - I'm speaking from what I know ;)) do. You don't have to write using British English - aka, you don't have to use the common "ou" as in favour rather than favor or "s" in place of "z" (realise versus realize). But it helps, especially when writing characters that are so quintessentially British, to use common British terms. Otherwise, you'll throw people out of the story.
For example, I can't see Rose celebrating the Fourth of July with a brilliant fireworks display in the middle of London ;) Unless, of course, you're in a parallel universe and you can explain it away with something or other. I'm getting ahead of myself here. Anyway. Onto the list!
Common Mistakes
1. In the UK, there is no such thing as "gotten". Doesn't exist. It's always "got".
2. There's no such thing as a city block in Europe. If you want to say something like "The TARDIS was parked several blocks away." Use: "The TARDIS was parked several streets away."
3. There are no high school graduations in the UK.
4. Valentine's Day cards and gifts are reserved for lovers and would-be lovers.
5. You don't wear your pants on the outside...unless you're Superman ;) (Pants = underwear in the UK. Trousers = the American pants. Or you can use jeans)
6. Jackie doesn't live in an apartment or a house. She lives in a flat.
7. The Ninth Doctor doesn't wear shirts. He wears jumpers.
8. If you write that Rose is fixing the dinner...what was wrong with it?
9. Washing up is reserved for "doing the dishes", not for cleaning yourself.
10. At Christmas, no-one drinks eggnog.
11. When you use "quite" in "that was quite good" it actually means it wasn't good. Not a compliment like that. :) Note that this mostly applies to writing reviews rather than face-to-face chats. Mostly this is reserved for things wherein the emotions/meaning behind the words is nebulous.
12. There are no sidewalks. It's pavement.
13. The meaning of life is 42...wait, how'd this get in here?
14. Yard = wide open space, generally paved.
15. Lawn = garden.
Sidebar on #'s 14 and 15 - A yard doesn't have to be wide and open. If the little garden at the back of your house is paved, you'd call it the "back yard". Probably not just 'the yard' though, and it's not a word that's used very much on its own (back yard, stable yard, prison yard etc). And a lawn is an expanse of grass in the garden, rather than the garden itself.
16. DON'T spell it 'luv' : “We’re almost there luv, can you make it?” It's love.
17. It's takeaway, not takeout
18. You go on holiday, not vacation.
19. The Tenth Doctor doesn't wear a duster - he'd use that to clean the console
20. 'A couple things' looks like a typo - always 'a couple OF'
Additions from omphalos and frankymole, wendymr and others:
21. Petrol not gas.
22. Tap not faucet.
23. We don't have 'freeways' as such. Motorways for the roads, like freeways, where you can only enter at certain points and have no traffic lights/crossroads/roundabouts. Main highways would be A-roads (eg A1, A34); more minor roads are B-roads (B3345, B981). Otherwise, it's town and city streets and narrow country roads.
24. Much like the Pope, our current monarch is almost always referred to by Brits as 'the Queen'. The phrase 'Queen Elizabeth' in casual conversation is more likely to make us think of Elizabeth I or even various vessels/vehicles.
25. In the US, the Postal Service delivers the mail, but in the UK the Royal Mail delivers the post.
26. An elevator is actually a lift.
27. Common car terms: the trunk is the boot, the hood's the bonnet, the muffler is the exhaust and the fender's the bumper. A fire truck is a fire engine, and I think you call a semi what we call a juggernaut or an artic (short for articulated lorry).
28. cell-phones are 'mobiles' (or mobile phones) in the UK ("I'll call Mum on me mobile").
29. A porch is a small sheltered area projecting from the front door of a house, designed solely to keep off the rain while you're looking for your keys (I think the US equivalent is 'stoop').
30. Stores are 'shops' (though most shops are referred to by their goods: greengrocer, chemist, haberdasher, ironmonger, butcher, baker, candlestick maker...)
31. Pissed. In the US, that means you're annoyed or "ticked off". In the UK, being pissed means that you're drunk. To imply the American meaning, you'd have to use "pissed off".
32. You will never hear someone from the UK say 'someplace'. It's 'somewhere'
33. Also, in the UK, no-one will say 'when you're done eating'; it's 'when you've finished'
34. In the UK, saying you're mad, means you're insane rather than angry.
35. Pumps, to Brits, are trainers, aka running shoes. They're not stylish shoes with low to medium heels that one would wear with a nice dress or skirt. Those are called court shoes.
36. In the UK, you don't buy diapers for your baby. You buy nappies.
37. Avoid the use of the superfluous 'of'. It's mostly seen in the context of 'off': She got off of the bike. In the UK, it's "She got off the bike."
38. Zip, not zipper ;)
39. If Rose wants something to wear, she would choose or select it, not 'pick it out'.
40. Misc Grammar things from wendymr:
UK English: apples, oranges and pears.
US English: apples, oranges, and pears.
write to you, not write you.
"I'll go and get dressed", not "I'll go get dressed".
both of us, not the both of us - that's grammatically incorrect, at least in UK English. Not sure about US English, because I see it a lot.
Get hold of him, not get a hold of him.
41. The things scattered on chairs and sofas? Cushions, not pillows. Pillows are what you rest your head on in bed ;) So a pillow fight is only likely to happen in a bedroom, or near a bed, really.
42. Hair: fringe, not bangs, and ponytail or pigtails, not bunches, and plaits/plaited, not braids/braided.
For more common slang terms, this website is a good source
Thanks to everyone who's offered additions/suggestions to this list! I'm thrilled that it's getting so much attention :)
Problem is that the key to writing for many people is writing what you know. That's brilliant. Exactly what you're supposed to do, really. Even in science fiction, write what you know.
Now, as an American, I know this country rather well. I know the slang, the lingo, the holidays. I go on vacations and celebrate the Fourth of July with a big fireworks display. I celebrate Thanksgiving and hop on the subway and walk on the sidewalk.
Thing is, that tends to come out in writing. I know that when I started writing Doctor Who - and this is a fundamentally British show - my writing was full of Americanisms. The Doctor and Rose went on vacation. The TARDIS was parked a few blocks away. The Doctor raised his glass of eggnog and Rose asked, "Have you gotten it?" Etc.
I'm lucky in that I've written British English before. My language has always been a smörgåsbord of American English, British English and Spanish (not to mention a few other languages thrown in for good measure). Even with that, I still had the problem with the slang.
Plenty of people do. (Having a Brit-picker is fantastic {{hugs to wendymr}} and, when in doubt, there's dw_britglish too)
So, I figured that I'd write up a little list of the common mistakes that Americans (and others - I'm speaking from what I know ;)) do. You don't have to write using British English - aka, you don't have to use the common "ou" as in favour rather than favor or "s" in place of "z" (realise versus realize). But it helps, especially when writing characters that are so quintessentially British, to use common British terms. Otherwise, you'll throw people out of the story.
For example, I can't see Rose celebrating the Fourth of July with a brilliant fireworks display in the middle of London ;) Unless, of course, you're in a parallel universe and you can explain it away with something or other. I'm getting ahead of myself here. Anyway. Onto the list!
Common Mistakes
1. In the UK, there is no such thing as "gotten". Doesn't exist. It's always "got".
2. There's no such thing as a city block in Europe. If you want to say something like "The TARDIS was parked several blocks away." Use: "The TARDIS was parked several streets away."
3. There are no high school graduations in the UK.
4. Valentine's Day cards and gifts are reserved for lovers and would-be lovers.
5. You don't wear your pants on the outside...unless you're Superman ;) (Pants = underwear in the UK. Trousers = the American pants. Or you can use jeans)
6. Jackie doesn't live in an apartment or a house. She lives in a flat.
7. The Ninth Doctor doesn't wear shirts. He wears jumpers.
8. If you write that Rose is fixing the dinner...what was wrong with it?
9. Washing up is reserved for "doing the dishes", not for cleaning yourself.
10. At Christmas, no-one drinks eggnog.
11. When you use "quite" in "that was quite good" it actually means it wasn't good. Not a compliment like that. :) Note that this mostly applies to writing reviews rather than face-to-face chats. Mostly this is reserved for things wherein the emotions/meaning behind the words is nebulous.
12. There are no sidewalks. It's pavement.
13. The meaning of life is 42...wait, how'd this get in here?
14. Yard = wide open space, generally paved.
15. Lawn = garden.
Sidebar on #'s 14 and 15 - A yard doesn't have to be wide and open. If the little garden at the back of your house is paved, you'd call it the "back yard". Probably not just 'the yard' though, and it's not a word that's used very much on its own (back yard, stable yard, prison yard etc). And a lawn is an expanse of grass in the garden, rather than the garden itself.
16. DON'T spell it 'luv' : “We’re almost there luv, can you make it?” It's love.
17. It's takeaway, not takeout
18. You go on holiday, not vacation.
19. The Tenth Doctor doesn't wear a duster - he'd use that to clean the console
20. 'A couple things' looks like a typo - always 'a couple OF'
Additions from omphalos and frankymole, wendymr and others:
21. Petrol not gas.
22. Tap not faucet.
23. We don't have 'freeways' as such. Motorways for the roads, like freeways, where you can only enter at certain points and have no traffic lights/crossroads/roundabouts. Main highways would be A-roads (eg A1, A34); more minor roads are B-roads (B3345, B981). Otherwise, it's town and city streets and narrow country roads.
24. Much like the Pope, our current monarch is almost always referred to by Brits as 'the Queen'. The phrase 'Queen Elizabeth' in casual conversation is more likely to make us think of Elizabeth I or even various vessels/vehicles.
25. In the US, the Postal Service delivers the mail, but in the UK the Royal Mail delivers the post.
26. An elevator is actually a lift.
27. Common car terms: the trunk is the boot, the hood's the bonnet, the muffler is the exhaust and the fender's the bumper. A fire truck is a fire engine, and I think you call a semi what we call a juggernaut or an artic (short for articulated lorry).
28. cell-phones are 'mobiles' (or mobile phones) in the UK ("I'll call Mum on me mobile").
29. A porch is a small sheltered area projecting from the front door of a house, designed solely to keep off the rain while you're looking for your keys (I think the US equivalent is 'stoop').
30. Stores are 'shops' (though most shops are referred to by their goods: greengrocer, chemist, haberdasher, ironmonger, butcher, baker, candlestick maker...)
31. Pissed. In the US, that means you're annoyed or "ticked off". In the UK, being pissed means that you're drunk. To imply the American meaning, you'd have to use "pissed off".
32. You will never hear someone from the UK say 'someplace'. It's 'somewhere'
33. Also, in the UK, no-one will say 'when you're done eating'; it's 'when you've finished'
34. In the UK, saying you're mad, means you're insane rather than angry.
35. Pumps, to Brits, are trainers, aka running shoes. They're not stylish shoes with low to medium heels that one would wear with a nice dress or skirt. Those are called court shoes.
36. In the UK, you don't buy diapers for your baby. You buy nappies.
37. Avoid the use of the superfluous 'of'. It's mostly seen in the context of 'off': She got off of the bike. In the UK, it's "She got off the bike."
38. Zip, not zipper ;)
39. If Rose wants something to wear, she would choose or select it, not 'pick it out'.
40. Misc Grammar things from wendymr:
UK English: apples, oranges and pears.
US English: apples, oranges, and pears.
write to you, not write you.
"I'll go and get dressed", not "I'll go get dressed".
both of us, not the both of us - that's grammatically incorrect, at least in UK English. Not sure about US English, because I see it a lot.
Get hold of him, not get a hold of him.
41. The things scattered on chairs and sofas? Cushions, not pillows. Pillows are what you rest your head on in bed ;) So a pillow fight is only likely to happen in a bedroom, or near a bed, really.
42. Hair: fringe, not bangs, and ponytail or pigtails, not bunches, and plaits/plaited, not braids/braided.
For more common slang terms, this website is a good source
Thanks to everyone who's offered additions/suggestions to this list! I'm thrilled that it's getting so much attention :)