She doesn't wear any of those types of underpants! She wears just... normal knickers... For him I just say boxers.
I'd say "underwear." That does have some ambiguity, because he could be wearing an undershirt, but that's not likely. In suit-and-tie situations, it's more likely.
So you wouldn't say 'underpants,' but you would say 'underwear.' That's interesting. I've been trying to put myself in that position, ever since I got on to this thread, and I actually can't remember for sure what I would have said. I'm pretty sure I would have said 'underpants,' if that's the garment I really wanted to know about. I'll try this out on my brother-in-law, next time we speak on the phone!
Thongs, in Australian, are those sandals held on by a ... thong around the toes. I found this out when my daughter's boyfriend told her he was "just sitting around in shorts and thongs" While the Welsh for "ambulance" is "ambiwlans" - merely altering the spelling to Welsh phonetic, and echoing your Gaelic comment, the Welsh for "Micro-Wave Oven" is "Pobtiping"...The oven (pob) that goes ping.
Underpants is totally acceptable as an umbrella term for for men's underwear, though underwear is much more commonly used. Boxers, briefs, man-panties--they can all be referred to as underwear or underpants.
To be fair, all of the types listed could be considered "normal" knickers, i.e. they cover all your bits (to an extent, and for the most part). They're just cut differently, mostly in the leg-hole area. It's exactly like the distinction between boxers, briefs, boxer-briefs, etc. RE: the ACTUAL topic of this thread. I don't think you should change to Americanisms without being expressly told to. I honestly cannot see the majority of them being a problem any more than the first couple catching someone unaware, and frankly it wouldn't jar me so far out that it's a bother. For the most part, enough media-type stuff has oozed its way over the pond (in both directions, I'd say) that using Americanisms versus Britishisms shouldn't be an issue either way.
My thoughts on this - if the book is set in the UK, use UK spellings/phrases like knickers, rubbish, basque, realised, colours, neighbours and if you want to go further, look at local speech and customs close to the area it's set in. If it's set in the US, then it's panties, trash, bustier, realized, colors, neighbors, etc etc. Regardless of where you actually are, it's more important (IMHO) to figure where the story's set. Unless your character is an American living in the UK, they wouldn't say, "Hold on, Honey, I'm just taking the trash out ..." just like an American character in a story set in the US wouldn't say "By George! I've got the answer, jolly good show of help from the neigbours!"
QUITE true. The only places I've really noticed it is leg-hole size, except briefs and maybe high cuts have a LOT of extra fabric in the butt area. Granny panties, indeed. ETA at least on me they tend to be.
This becomes a no-brainer once we look at the origin of the word. It comes from German where 'sch' is always pronounced 'sk.' Perhaps this is somehow akin to what happened in the early days of printing when the Flemmish printers didn't have 'w' (or whatever excuse they used) and thus substituted 'ugh...' Or maybe it was 'f' they sloughed off...'
After reading through two pages of this thread, I'm still not finding an answer to the original question. We can all guess, but even that other thread (following the link provided) was just a lot of conjecture. So, here are my guesses regarding this whole thing. Who know? Maybe this'll turn out to be a fun way to pass a few minutes on a Saturday morning: 1) If you're submitting in the same country you're writing in, use that country's version of the language. This becomes difficult in Canada because we don't have very many publishers or agents to submit to, so most authors who actually want to get anywhere have to write/submit in U.S. English because the only markets where we'll have any hope of big success (read: financial independence) is down there, south of the border. The few publishers we do have up here tend to be supported by government grants, so if you're really serious about being a professional, self-supporting author, forget it. So south, young manuscripter! Go south! 2) Asking any U.S. publisher or agent which version of English to use is surely pointless. Are they even aware that English (or 'American' as so many like to think of it) is spoken outside of their borders (other than in tones in excess of 124db, you know, to make oneself understood). 3) As for trying to explain that Canadian or British writers/authors spell words differently? Likely, they'll simply think the author can't spell and reject based on that judgement. The first novel in the Harry Potter series was rejected until it found its way to a tiny Canadian publisher in Vancouver, BC. Now, because of this discussion, I'm wondering if she had to change all the spellings to match Canadian English. And yes, Canadian English is slightly different from either U.S. or British English. We not only borrow heavily from both of those variations, we've got a heavy influence from our Quebecous compatriots (see: 'cheque' vs. 'check,' the latter of which has always seemed odd to me when talking about signed IOUs).
Makes sense. After all, the official language of the English court was French for a very long time after the Norman conquest.
Is this the kind of cheque that you write out and tear from your chequebook and use as payment, or is it the kind that you receive in a restaurant that called 'bill' in the UK? Not to be confused with a dollar bill, that's called 'note' on this side of the pond. Such differences would only be significant if the reader didn't know the meaning of a word, or become confused by it.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/schedule Origin of SCHEDULE Middle English, from Medieval Latin scedula slip, page, charter, from Late Latin schedula slip of paper, diminutive of Latin *scheda strip of papyrus, probably back-formation from Latin schedium impromptu speech, from Greek schedion, from neuter of schedios casual; akin to Greek schedon near at hand, echein to seize, have
And we British, never ask for the check when we are ready to pay (in a restaurant) we ask for the bill. I'm still sticking with the argument of, "write as for where your story is set" If it's in America, use American English, the UK, use British English, Canada, use Canadian English. As with anything artistic though there are but's and exceptions to the rule ...
It's beginning to seem somewhat cyclical now, this thread. What I've garnered from it can be explained (if it needed explaining) thus: Make your own mind up. Next!
Good luck with that, in practical terms. An American writing a story set in the UK is supposed to use UK spellings? Ummm.... that's fine if they're familiar with all of them. But a helluva problem if they don't. I suppose they could use a country-specific spell checker, but we all know spell checkers aren't foolproof. (That's 'checkers,' not 'chequers' ...) I'm an American living in Scotland, and although I've lived here for nearly 30 years, and have incorporated British spelling into my ordinary correspondence, to some extent, I would never sit down and try to write a novel using British spellings. It just doesn't feel right. Yes, I know, that limits me a bit, but still....
