To my many dear US Fanfic writing friends.
Dec. 1st, 2011 05:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reynardoI don't think any of you make this mistake, but as some in your country obviously do, I am here to ask you to pass the word on.
In the UK, when one feels the need to eliminate bodily waste, one goes to the toilet, the lavatory, the loo - any of the above. One may refer to the room where the porcelain receptacle lies as "the bathroom" if the room contains also a bath. If the room contains only the toilet, or the toilet and a little handwashing basin, then the room tends to get referred to by the object within, or possibly as the WC (standing as it does for "water closet")
We appreciate that when people in the US need to deal with those bodily functions, they refer to using "the bathroom". (I've also heard "comfort station" and "restroom").
So, the room in the UK that contains a bath is a bathroom. It may also contain the toilet. So it is reasonable for a British person in a British location to go to the toilet in a room that contains a bath. (It'll also have a basin, and possibly a little cupboard for medicines above the basin, maybe a mirror, etc).
But it is not reasonable for a British person in a British location to go into the loo/lavatory/toilet/WC and proceed to have a bath. This gives rise to the image of Hermione Granger leaning over a toilet and holding a bar of soap. Ewwwwww.
(I've just read the fourth fanfic in a few weeks to make this mistake, and it *really* drives me nuts. Not to mention making me completely lose my suspension of disbelief. And no, they're not all recently written ones).
In the UK, when one feels the need to eliminate bodily waste, one goes to the toilet, the lavatory, the loo - any of the above. One may refer to the room where the porcelain receptacle lies as "the bathroom" if the room contains also a bath. If the room contains only the toilet, or the toilet and a little handwashing basin, then the room tends to get referred to by the object within, or possibly as the WC (standing as it does for "water closet")
We appreciate that when people in the US need to deal with those bodily functions, they refer to using "the bathroom". (I've also heard "comfort station" and "restroom").
So, the room in the UK that contains a bath is a bathroom. It may also contain the toilet. So it is reasonable for a British person in a British location to go to the toilet in a room that contains a bath. (It'll also have a basin, and possibly a little cupboard for medicines above the basin, maybe a mirror, etc).
But it is not reasonable for a British person in a British location to go into the loo/lavatory/toilet/WC and proceed to have a bath. This gives rise to the image of Hermione Granger leaning over a toilet and holding a bar of soap. Ewwwwww.
(I've just read the fourth fanfic in a few weeks to make this mistake, and it *really* drives me nuts. Not to mention making me completely lose my suspension of disbelief. And no, they're not all recently written ones).
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Date: 2011-12-01 06:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-01 07:23 am (UTC)I adore your icon!
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Date: 2011-12-01 07:31 am (UTC)Like Hermione celebrating Thanksgiving? *shudders*
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Date: 2011-12-01 08:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-01 08:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-01 09:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-01 03:42 pm (UTC)*faints*
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Date: 2011-12-01 08:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-01 08:27 am (UTC)That explains the bleaching.
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Date: 2011-12-01 08:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-01 11:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-01 11:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-01 03:45 pm (UTC)The Front Porch on which Hermione and Draco will never stand to hold hands. The Back Porch on which the Weasleys will never gather. And let's not forget The Wrap-Around Porch for which there is simply not enough space in most parts of the UK.
Pictures of houses in the UK. They do exist on internet ;)
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Date: 2011-12-01 06:53 pm (UTC)There's one I noticed the other day which just stuck out (on a similar hygiene theme!). Someone in a fic (I think it was Lucius) said they were going to 'take a shower'.
Brits don't take a shower, they have a shower. And then there's the frequent omission of 'and' after 'go' and the verb. ie - Go pick up the phone, go send a message, go turn off the lights. In the UK it is 'go and pick up (or rather answer) the phone, go and send a message, go and turn off the lights.
My ear will occasionally allow the younger HP generation to get away with this (although even they wouldn't talk in that way, to be honest) but when Lucius or Severus or someone older does it it is like nails on a blackboard.
Hate to say this but it is worth investing in a good (and very thorough to the point of being anally pedantic) Brit picker! Sorryyyyyyyy!!
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Date: 2011-12-01 07:14 pm (UTC)I like WC and loo. I havent written fic in a while and I have never written about the loo.
After reading the exchange I would think all the Brits have an obsession with chip buttys. ;> What I want to know is are they good? It's totally not PC to eat one due to the carb on carb structure. lol
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Date: 2011-12-01 10:04 pm (UTC)Consider the long, dark, wet, drizzly, cold-but-not-quite-cold-enough-to-snow English winters. Chip Butties are a comfort food of excellent and extreme value, guaranteed to sit in your stomach like a lump of hot brick and keep you warm for hours. The chips have to be slightly crispy but not too much. The bread has to be a bit chewy. And the beer with them (or ginger beer) has to have a touch of yeast.
They come of the English pub food needing chips with everything. Salad with chips. Pie and chips. Fish and chips. Black pudding and chips. And of course, chips and chips. I'm not kidding - I have video proof of a pub in Portsmouth offering exactly that. And British chips are not like McDonalds' French Fries - they're not long and thin. They're lucky if they're finger length, and not much thinner.
Are they good?
Oh god yes.
But in the deep fried twinkie way. Once in a while as a guilty treat or a cure for a breakup or on a cold wet evening when winter's getting you down is fine. Every day? You'd go nuts.
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Date: 2011-12-01 10:18 pm (UTC)If you let an american get ahold of a chip butty, they will batter it and deep fry it...like a twinkie (which I dont care for).
Nothing felt like the cold in Copenhagen in January. But I imagine it's the same. Damp, grey, cold...
Chips and chips...yes I can see that.
Here the chips are sometimes treated like pasta. Chili chips and pizzachips, and seasoned chips with cheddar. In the USA there is everyt type and shape of chip imaginable- waffles, crinkles, string (McD's style), regular, curly, steak, and tater tots.
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Date: 2011-12-01 11:37 pm (UTC)The one that gets me every time, though, is "Mom". British characters calling their mothers "Mom" or "Mommy". (!) It's "Mum", for goodness' sake!
One story I read recently - I can't remember what story it was, but it's a high probability that it was one of the stories on the Exchange - had Hermione saying "Mom" repeatedly. What added insult to injury, though, was that the author, in their author's notes, thanked their Britpicker. I have to conclude that (a) the author was lying about having a Britpicker, or (b) the author ignored everything the Britpicker said, or (c) the author didn't actually let the Britpicker read the story, or (d) the Britpicker wasn't British. Because there is no way under heaven that a British (or Australian) person would fail to notice the egregious usage of "Mom".
(rolls eyes)