fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #627 ]

⌈ Secret Post #627 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

101.

__________________________________________________

102.

__________________________________________________

103.

__________________________________________________

104.

__________________________________________________

105.

__________________________________________________

106.

__________________________________________________

107.

__________________________________________________

108.

__________________________________________________

109.

__________________________________________________

110.

__________________________________________________

111.

__________________________________________________

112.

__________________________________________________

113.

__________________________________________________

114.

__________________________________________________

115.

__________________________________________________

116.

__________________________________________________

117.

__________________________________________________

118.

__________________________________________________

119.

__________________________________________________

120.

__________________________________________________

121.

__________________________________________________

122.

__________________________________________________

123.

__________________________________________________

124.

[resized]

__________________________________________________

125.

__________________________________________________

126.

__________________________________________________

127.

__________________________________________________

128.

__________________________________________________

129.

__________________________________________________

130.

__________________________________________________

131.

__________________________________________________

132.

__________________________________________________

133.

__________________________________________________

134.

__________________________________________________

135.

__________________________________________________

136.

__________________________________________________

137.

__________________________________________________

138.

__________________________________________________

139.

__________________________________________________

140.

__________________________________________________

141.

__________________________________________________

142.

__________________________________________________

143.

__________________________________________________

144.

__________________________________________________

145.

__________________________________________________

146.

__________________________________________________

147.

__________________________________________________

148.

__________________________________________________

149.

__________________________________________________

150.

__________________________________________________

151.

__________________________________________________

152.

__________________________________________________

153.

__________________________________________________

154.

__________________________________________________

155.

__________________________________________________

156.

__________________________________________________

157.

__________________________________________________

158.

__________________________________________________

159.

__________________________________________________

160.

__________________________________________________

161.

__________________________________________________

162.

__________________________________________________

163.

__________________________________________________

164.

Notes:

RANK 21 AND CLIMBING → http://lolbuttsex.myminicity.com

Secrets Left to Post: 10 pages, 231 secrets from Secret Submission Post #090.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 1 2 3 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 3 4 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - personal attack ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

105. I don't have any problem with you disliking the character of Rodney McKay or the McShep pairing, but I think you're hugely wrong about Rodney being a not-funny, not-handsome, not-interesting Mary Sue. It is possible for you to not be attracted to him or interested in him without everyone else being wrong wrong wrong. (I get that the pairing is so prevalent that it might bug someone who dislikes it, but accept that these things are a matter of your opinion and not absolutes.)

135. It would be going too far to say I "can't stand it," but seeing American characters speaking in Britishisms jars me right out of a story. I find myself wanting to offer my services to Americanize fics. Often they're excellent, but I find it so distancing when an American character uses "yeah?" as a tag question or puts the kettle on.

But then I think of all the crappy Harry Potter fic I've read by Americans, and a lot of it made no effort at all. So you can't really say "We try to get your slang right," about everyone. Or even most authors.

Edited 2008-09-23 21:44 (UTC)

Er. What do Americans call kettles, then? O_o

By the way, I think everything is okay in narration. Dialogue... (or internal dialogue) that's different. (But then, I'm ESL so I'm too happy if I can catch an Americanism/Britishism to be bothered by it. Then again, almost all of my fandoms are anime where these are not really important.)

LOL. Okay, some Americans put the kettle on. But most of the people I know don't even own one, much less use it every day. (for we are wise in the ways of microwaving water) The story that made me use that example was one in which the characters were two teenage boys, and it just struck me as improbable that they would walk into the kitchen and automatically make tea.

I'm probably overly sensitive to the instances of Americanisms in the mouths and minds of British characters and vice versa.

Microwaving water? Heretics, all of you. Microwaves are for popcorn and croissants.

I totally microwave the water for my tea. *is a heretic* But, hey, at least I drink it.

THIS!

why would you microwave a croissant?

I've an electric kettle! I'm an American! Also use it to heat up water for instant mashed potatoes.

I find it so distancing when an American character uses "yeah?" as a tag question

...is this not normal?

Seconded. I feel like I may have made some huge mistakes now. :/

Oh, I don't want you to think that! It's not WRONG, it's just one of those things that rings bells in my head.

As I said in another comment, I see lines like, "You're coming over to mine, yeah?" in the mouth of an American character and mentally rewrite it as, "You're coming over to my house, right?" Because "right?" and "huh" and even "you know?" are much more common tag questions among Americans. (as a vast generalization)

I pay a lot of attention to the language differences between US and British English, though, so I'm probably overly sensitive to it in fic.

I think it'd probably be 'huh' rather than 'yeah'. That's what I've been told is the American version of 'eh' (I'm Canadian, so this is all second-hand to me), which we use the way the British tend to use 'yeah'.

Again, I think that this is a purely regional thing. Where I live, any one of those three would be acceptable and all three are used quite frequently.

Yeah, good call. Fic tends to flatten out regions and ascribe the same slang to very large areas, so I was generalizing pretty widely, but I'm sure it's different depending on where you go.

It's not common among Americans the way British TV leads me to believe is is common in the UK. I see lines like, "You're coming over to mine, yeah?" in the mouth of an American character and mentally rewrite it as, "You're coming over to my house, right?"

I'm not saying that no American would ever use the first phrasing, but I think the second would be much more common. And when I do see th "yeah?" tag questions, I check the author's profile, and not one of them has ever been American. /anecdotal, inaccurate measurement

Agreed. I'm also very language-conscious and I have never heard or seen an American tack the word "yeah" a sentence onto a sentence the way Brits or Aussies do.

/backing up anecdotal measurement

135. I wouldn't say "I can't stand it" either, but it can be noticeable. I read a fic the other day where I had no idea the author wasn't American, but I found phrases and words that clued me in to it throughout the fic. It was still awesome, but jars you when you read it, especially when it's something obvious. Plus, if you're really involved in a fandom, you should be able to know what you can see coming out of your character's mouth.

Bottom line? Some people make an effort, some don't. Some care, some don't. We mess up, and they mess up. Unless it's garish, whatever.

*nods* I think it bothers me a bit more some other readers because 1) I pay a great deal of attention to the differences between American and British English (I Brit-pick my company's UK brochures at work), and 2) I try really hard to get the phrasing and word choice right when I write British characters.

It's not a thing to make a fuss about when I'm reading fic, but it is something that I notice.

Western slang varies greatly by area, is what everyone seems to be neglecting to mention here... Where I am, using "yeah?" or putting the kettle on are both A-OK.

Western slang varies greatly by area Oh, it definitely does, and I'm not trying to stir up wank over misuse of dialect or anything. Those were just two examples that I have seen in fic solely from non-American authors that make me feel like something is off in the portrayals of the characters. There is nothing incorrect about putting the kettle on, but it seemed OOC and, well British in the story I had in mind when I wrote the comment. (It was an excellent, well written story, and I really liked it. But the teenage boys put the kettle on when one of them was upset, the mother wore marigolds to wash dishes, and the characters said, 'yeah?' at the ends of their sentences. None of which felt right for the characters.)

I am in no way denying that speech patterns vary from place to place, nor am I saying that these phrasings/words choices are inherently wrong. It's probably because they're not wrong that they bug me; they niggle at my mind as I read.

[ SECRET POST #627 ]

105, 135

Re: 105, 135

Re: 105, 135

Re: 105, 135

Re: 105, 135

no subject

Re: 105, 135

Re: 105, 135

135

Re: 135

Re: 135

Re: 135

Re: 135

Re: 135

Re: 135

Re: 135

Re: 135

Re: 135

Re: 105, 135

Re: 105, 135