@madhoca: thanks for the explanation of how the term "public schools" came about. Nigella, like most post people I know (who are roughly my generation and a bit older) all speak in this "mid Atlantic" accent I was referring to. Jamie Oliver and Lily Allen are typical "mockneys" - public school accent hiding behind a somewhat forced cockney (and I am not referring to the Victorian times, I mean the contemporary cockney, London and Essex sort of thing). In any case, even if the accent wasn't "hiding' it's still more contemporary then 50 years ago. I agree, We are not swamped by American culture in its totality, but vast majority of popular films in the past few decades have been American, so I would be very surprised to learn that a kid these days, from the UK, had trouble understanding American dialects.
What Maia said. You cannot hear spelling in dialogue, so you should use the US spelling within dialogue if you are using it for the rest of the novel. Quoting written material, such as letters, text messages, and the like will use whatever spelling the character used.\ If you are going to use UK spelling, get yourself a good UK dictionary, such as Oxford's (a UK edition. of course). UK slang is much more problematic. It various a great deal by region and social status. You are best avoiding it unless you can get advice from a local from a specific locale.
Thanks for the list! 8D I shall save it in the event I write a British character. What about the following: Bar-Pub Flashlight-Torch Just thought I'd toss that in there.
Flashlight - Torch is accurate. But we have Bars here too. Speaking from personal experience: bars are places that serve more spirits, or spirits exclusively, don't really have seating areas, and they have a different atmosphere to 'pubs', or 'public houses', which are more of a community place where you drink, and play pool or other pub games, and socialize with other people in the pub. In bars people generally stick to their own groups.
Just for info- we do have bars over here, they're just different to pubs. Pubs are more casual, often local places where you can go for food and drink in the daytime or evening. A bar is more of a nightspot, smarter and doesn't always serve food. There's usually loud music/a DJ, kind of like a nightclub but with less dancing space. Crap explanation, but just wanted to put that out there in case anyone thought all bars = pubs Aahh, Lemex beat me to it
That's good to know. Well, this is probably just what I needed to make an accurate British character...seem British! 8) A'course, there are loads of slangs I don't know, but that list helps.
Also, I have to point out that this isn't strictly accurate - at least in the form of synonyms. Mail is what you get. the Post is what Mail arrives through. But Post can also apply to what you get, referring to where you got Mail. You can have 'I got Mail through the Post' or 'I got Post'. Consider The Daily Mail, and The Post Office.
LOL. I just meant if they use the word post instead of mail it'll sound more "British" for the character. We tend to say the post is here, not the mail is here. The postie, not the mail man. The post box, not the mail box. You know.
Thanks everyone for your replies, it's very much appreciated. It appears I'll literally have to move to London myself, and live there for the next half of my life if I'm ever going to portray an English character correctly. I guess this means I'll have to change my character enough to make her believable! Although I would like her to retain an English background, perhaps she has moved to and lived in North America for a while? This way, she could speak like any old American, yet have slight changes to her dialogue and accent to hint at her background. Would this be a better idea? Just as a side-note, I'm Canadian, not American. We actually do use the English way of spelling words most of the time (such as colour), but some words end up more American, or halfway in-between. Strange, I know. This is partially what I was looking for. Thanks a bunch!
Yeah, i'm with you there, Domino. I never say mail. I got this in the post I'm going to post a letter My alsatian just savaged the postie and now there's blood all over my letter box... HA! There's one - letter box is the thing the postie puts letters through in your door, a post box is the thing you put letters in when you want to post them. And I never said mail once in that post... LOL!
If your character's a young person then it wouldn't be unusual for her to use some American sayings and phrases, we British have picked up a lot from film and TV in the last two decades.
If she's English and from 'pretentious middle class country' (the commuter belt) or 'horse and mansion country' (rural southeast) I can help. I spend a lot of time there, and am a fellow outsider
Hi Gallowglass, Thanks for your offer. May I ask where you spend your time exactly? City or region-wise?
Yeah, but you obviously have a bit of an axe to grind about it, or at least a blatant anti-snob agenda. The tone of your post says it all....
Nobody likes a snob, though it would be wrong to call everyone from the 'middle class country' snobs.
Exactly - the post smacked of sour grapes more than anything, and I could just imagine their 'advice' to the OP consisting of working class vitriol against the middle class professionals in their ivory clad 4 bedroom semis in the suburbs. Conversely, those who do have money and end up paying a lot of it to the state in taxes turn round and spout similar bile against those who refuse to work and instead screw the benefits system for every penny. The class war continues...
There is a middle-class "snob" culture in that kind of area, but a) there are a lot of people in those areas who aren't like that, and b) there are a lot of people in other areas who are. Anyway, I'm not much use for London but I can certainly tell you about teenagers in the north, around Manchester/Liverpool if you ever need it. PS: as you can see there's a teensy bit of class war going on at the moment in the UK. We're all as bad as each other.
Just to sway this topic back to its original point (although the class structure is interesting), should I know any entirely general or city-wide slang/word use? There must be some that exist. What are some of the most common?
Google would be more productive. I suggest narrowing down to a particular location or group with a query like: London slang
Hi Cogito, Thanks for the suggestion. The only problem I have with this is that internet references tend not to display the frequency or accuracy of such words. Some slang could be outdated, or rarely used, which could make my character sound strange if I used them. Additionally, I'm assuming people of different backgrounds use different slang. Would the majority of the slang from, say, londonslang.com be used regularly?
As compared with what you get here, which hasn't even been narrowed down to one region or group? Perhaps you could look for a blog, vlog or forum associated with a specific place or grouping in England, and observe the slang used there. Also consider Gallowglass' offer. As an observer in a particular location, his information could be quite good for that location. You don't just need a list, you need a well-qualified list.
Some of it seems OK. Steer well clear of cockney rhyming slang, though, (i.e. Apples and Pears - stairs). I've rarely heard anyone say that seriously, and never a teenager. To be honest, I'd avoid most slang if she's meant to be quite intelligent. For example, "gaff" or the term "all over the gaff" IS used, but carries huge negative connotations in most circles. Instead, I'd stick to just using the british names for things that were listed earlier (mail-post, washroom-toilet, etc.) and then maybe go over afterwards and insert one or two pieces of slang if you really want. You're more likely to annoy people by using stereotyped and unrealistic slang than by having a character who rarely uses it. EDIT: OR, try and choose and verify one or two pieces of slang that she would use. Most people have one or two phrases that they use often - I often say "man alive" but I would never think to say, for example, "geezer", however I have a friend who says it all the time. It helps to build a believable and consistent character.
@Cogito: The thing about asking a forum, is that I can get real time information which shouldn't be outdated or unused. I'll take your suggestion and try searching around for anything that could help me. As with Gallowglass, if he's still around, his help would be quite appreciated. @twelveninetysix: Thanks for the input, I never planned on using cockney rhyming slang (I've never actually heard about it until yesterday). Are there any one or two slang words in the site which could be used once in a while without sounding too stereotyped?
