MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Anyone here from the UK? Need some help with British English.

Bilbo1967 · 07-17-2010, 04:57 PM

It would help to know the era the novel is set in. And a summary of the characters' characters, as it were, would be useful.

In general though, I agree with Nick above. There's nothing that really grates with a British reader imho.

The most annoying mistake (to me) that American writers make when setting scenes in the UK is using the concept of blocks, i.e. "Hank set off from his hotel in the centre of London and walked the three blocks to the nearest convenience store". Talking about blocks in the UK makes no kind of sense at all. Please note my cunning use of Hank as the American name (everybody in America is called Hank or Bubba, we all know that) and the term 'convenience store', again, no such thing in the UK.

07-17-2010, 04:57 PM	#3
Bilbo1967 Not scared! Posts: 13,424 Karma: 81011643 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Midlands, UK Device: Kindle Paperwhite 10, Huawei M5 10	It would help to know the era the novel is set in. And a summary of the characters' characters, as it were, would be useful. In general though, I agree with Nick above. There's nothing that really grates with a British reader imho. The most annoying mistake (to me) that American writers make when setting scenes in the UK is using the concept of blocks, i.e. "Hank set off from his hotel in the centre of London and walked the three blocks to the nearest convenience store". Talking about blocks in the UK makes no kind of sense at all. Please note my cunning use of Hank as the American name (everybody in America is called Hank or Bubba, we all know that) and the term 'convenience store', again, no such thing in the UK. Last edited by Bilbo1967; 07-17-2010 at 05:03 PM.