A daft question for Americans about biscuits

If you're submitting to US magazines, I think you'd be best off Americanizing your vocabulary as much as possible. I know a fair amount of British usage, but wasn't aware of your example re "benefits"--in the US, benefits are part of one's employment package beyond salary (insurances, vacation, etc.) If you change your setting from a UK to a US one, though, make sure that you catch all the "biscuits", so to speak--the words that you don't know have a different meaning; have an American or two read it for you. We don't know what we don't know, after all.

Also, beware of sending a story that is way too British to an American magazine. If it's deeply rooted in British culture, it may not be of interest to an American audience. Just as a story that is deeply rooted in baseball culture and is full of baseball terminology will not be of any interest to the audience of a British magazine.

If the story is set in the UK, use the terms appropriate to the location.

If the story is set in the US with a UK protag, use the terms appropriate to the character's background.

If the story is set in the UK with a US protag, ask a US friend to proof it for UK terms.

If the story is set in the US with a US protag, ask a US friend to weed out UK terms.

I've been an Anglophile since reading my first Sherlock Holmes story and moving on to Agatha Christie. PBS Brit shows made me more than familiar with UK terms like trunk call for long distance, etc. so I'm not a good test case. The more the better is how I like it!

When PBS brought Monty Python to the US, we culturally deprived colonials had no problem picking up on various terms, ditto for Doctor Who, which provided me with a favourite: "You must think my head zips up the back!" (Image of the Fendahl.)

zclesa said:

Thank you, Marissa. That's helpful. We call perks that come with a job "employee benefits", while money given to the needy is just called "benefits".

I think most British people over the age of 12 are aware of American terminology because of Hollywood if nothing else. I remember watching the film "Heathers" at about that age, where I first learned that "fag" was an insult implying homosexuality. Over here, it's slang for a cigarette. I can see how a character "dropping a fag butt" could be construed rather awfully by an American audience!

We have also appropriated a lot of terms from the US, but this hasn't happened the other way around. So, I think there is more danger of me writing something that would confuse a US reader than there is of me being unaware that the word I am using means something different in the US.

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Perqs are perquisites (benefits on top of wages/salary) in the U.S. Perk is to perk something or someone up (to feel spry). Money to the needy is welfare (if given by the government), charity otherwise, in the U.S.

There are differences in British products as well. Magnum is a brand of chocolate covered ice cream on a stick. Magnum, in the U.S., is a brand of extra large condoms. Be careful not to use brand names without seeing they have an American counterpart too. A scene describing consuming one of these ice creams, by Brand name only, in a seductive way on a hot day, might confuse people in the U.S.

There are differences in British products as well. Magnum is a brand of chocolate covered ice cream on a stick. Magnum, in the U.S., is a brand of extra large condoms. Be careful not to use brand names without seeing they have an American counterpart too. A scene describing consuming one of these ice creams, by Brand name only, in a seductive way on a hot day, might confuse people in the U.S.

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We have the ice cream Magnums too in the US. I guess how you interpret this is how often you use condoms...

As for the other terms, I know "daft" means crazy, and "chippy"... potato chip snacks? In the U.S. Sometimes this word is used to describe being perky or cheerful.

Enlightened said:

There are differences in British products as well. Magnum is a brand of chocolate covered ice cream on a stick. Magnum, in the U.S., is a brand of extra large condoms. Be careful not to use brand names without seeing they have an American counterpart too. A scene describing consuming one of these ice creams, by Brand name only, in a seductive way on a hot day, might confuse people in the U.S.

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Magnum ice cream is sold in the U.S., too (I've gotten it at Target and several grocery stores). In context, there shouldn't be any confusion.

We have the ice cream Magnums too in the US.

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Depends on U.S. location, maybe. I've never seen it in grocery chains where I lived, but I never looked for it. The next time I go to the store, I will see if it is there.

Enlightened said:

Depends on U.S. location, maybe. I've never seen it in grocery chains where I lived, but I never looked for it. The next time I go to the store, I will see if it is there.

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(Walmart and Target sell it in wide distribution.)

-Riv- said:

(Walmart and Target sell it in wide distribution.)

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Seems clear there's no way to "Americanize" a piece of prose in a way that'll work nationwide.

Another vote for context. If your story is set in the UK, use the UKisms. Most people in the US have consumed at least some UK-produced media in their lives. (Some of us have consumed a LOT. ) We're used to some of the slang, and the rest we'd look up.

-Riv- said:

(Walmart and Target sell it in wide distribution.)

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And the condoms too...

I once Americanised a poem on request and regretted it. I've never done it again. In fiction, places often do accept British English because they think it sounds quaint. This isn't the best reason for doing so, but it does give more freedom in fiction. I've had to explain the odd word or spelling during edits, but when it's already known the story is in British English, this isn't a big deal.

Non-fiction is a different thing. I had a conversation/interview type thing published somewhere I'd previously had fiction published. They'd had no issues with the story being in British English (it even stated in the guidelines that this was fine), but tried to change the non-fiction to American English. I resisted it, as it was supposed to be literally me talking, and I wouldn't suddenly sound like a middle class white American. It was resolved in my favour, but I've never tried to sell non-fiction again.

If it's clearly British, set there, or with British/English characters, I'd just leave it. I think most people know the basics -- lift, flat, boot, loo, etc., and most everything else is either contextually clear or well, that's life, people speak differently all over the place. I've read American stuff with weird dialectical thing (like anymore used oddly, like 'Coffee out is so expensive anymore,' people using past tense in a different way, like 'That needs cleaned.') and it just is what it is.

Uhm.... Theresa May, David Cameron, Tony Blair, John whatsisname with the big glasses.... I think that's all I got?

Enlightened said:

Perqs are perquisites (benefits on top of wages/salary) in the U.S. Perk is to perk something or someone up (to feel spry). Money to the needy is welfare (if given by the government), charity otherwise, in the U.S.

There are differences in British products as well. Magnum is a brand of chocolate covered ice cream on a stick. Magnum, in the U.S., is a brand of extra large condoms. Be careful not to use brand names without seeing they have an American counterpart too. A scene describing consuming one of these ice creams, by Brand name only, in a seductive way on a hot day, might confuse people in the U.S.

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Not for nothing, but perks are perks everywhere,spelled whichever way, and Magnum is both an ice cream brand and a condom brand in the U.S.

zclesa said:

This is great - thanks all. It's not only made me think, but it's also made me giggle.

Who woulda thunk a Magnum could be so many things? A chocolate-coated ice-cream, a super-sized condom, a large amount of champagne, a pistol, a British prog-rock band, a Private Detective in Hawaii...Have I missed anything?!

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Aye. There's also the bass guitarist of Lordi; a character from the Transformers; a Marvel Comics character; a NATO code; and of course Latin for great, as a result of which it's the specific epithet (that is, the second word of the scientific/binomial name of a species) of a *lot* of species of animal, fungi and plant (to list a few: Colletotrichum magnum, a fungal plant pathogen on soybean; Massinium magnum, a species of sea cucumber; Pterygodium magnum, an African flowering plant in the orchid family; Eosentomon magnum, a proturan hexapod; Austrosimulium magnum, an Australian black fly)

I can see the similarities, but the ...emotions? surrounding biscuits seems completely different than scones. Would you use a scone to wipe up gravy, or shove some bacon in one? It's more a savory than a sweet, usually. I could just also be misunderstanding scones. They've always been in a sweet, tea time or dessert context when I've seen them here.
America is a wide place and contains multitudes, so I don't think there is an "average" American. If you're an American that grew up watching a lot of PBS, then you saw a lot of British BBC programming, often several years (or decades) past when it ran originally. Now with the internet and BBC America, that's totally different, too. But at one time I could have easily told you which of my friends had grown up watching Fawlty Towers and Are You Being Served with their parents and which hadn't, based on the quality of their jokes and impressions. Even so, I remember only getting some jokes in Douglas Adams' books many years later on 2nd or 3rd reread, due to random translation issues.
I can name Blair, Thatcher... um... May ... I looked it up and I totally forgot Cameron, Brown and Major. I've also further dated myself because those are the only ones in my lifetime.
I wouldn't alter anything. We need more exposure to other cultures, even ones that are "almost, but not quite entirely unlike" our own.

Gillhoughly said:

If the story is set in the UK with a US protag, ask a US friend to proof it for UK terms.

If the story is set in the US with a US protag, ask a US friend to weed out UK terms.

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For the love of God, please do this. It is not enough to have an American read two pages and say "Yeah, it sounds like you got the American voice right." Just one or two instances of being "right knackered" will "do my head in" and I'll possibly even "gurn" even if you're "taking the piss." Even something as simple as "staying off from school" versus "staying home from school" will give you away.

I know this sounds like a harsh zero-tolerance high bar to clear, but it really makes a difference. I've been on both sides, as an American who wrote a British character (and this character had some weird Yorkshire-London Harry Potter-meets-Cockney accent--we can't tell the difference) and having read a British author's American characters. Get a beta reader who will call you out and slap you down on every single instance.

There are words that we Americans can figure out, especially post Harry Potter. Jumper, ice lolly, hose pipe, etc.

Some don't translate well at all. Pot plant and rubber have entirely different meanings here that would best be translated (potted plant, eraser).

Cobalt Jade said:

"chippy"... potato chip snacks? In the U.S. Sometimes this word is used to describe being perky or cheerful.

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A chippy is a fish and chip shop.

"Chipper" would be the term for "perky" or "cheerful".

American living in the UK here. The biggest one for me is the pants vs. trousers thing. Also, lorry = semi, 18 wheeler, etc. Crisps = chips, chips = fries. Anything involving grades or schooling levels is a total mess to translate, like 2:1 or first degree to GPA and honors and all.

I agree with having an American read it if you want to Americanize, because there are also turns of phrase that we use less commonly! Ex: everyone in the UK says "sorted" when something is fixed.

I've faced these difficulties with my current MS.

From the research I've done, I think it comes down to how important it is to your story. It's important to Americanise things for a US audience if that's your main objective, however if it's a story set entirely in Britain (ala HP) then using a lot of American dialect will just feel really strange and unnatural, like if Harry Potter was saying 'awesome' and 'pants' instead of trousers etc. Kids here do use some American phrases (as is natural cause of American tv/film) but there is some limit. So yeah, it's about figuring out what exactly you want. Personally I'd write it so it feels natural to where it is set (american words for a story in America, British for a story set in Britain etc) and then you can discuss this with an agent when it comes to actual publication.