Thread: How do Americans feel about UK spelling?
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Old 10-04-2010, 07:34 PM   #248
sbtx99
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Luke King View Post
Yes, but I wonder how common it has been for Americans to see variant spellings before the advent of ebooks. I would imagine, as the US is such a large market, that print books have always appeared in American English regardless of where they were written.
I don't know about other genres, but long-time romance readers are familiar with alternate spelling and phrases. Back in the day when Harlequin rejected Nora Roberts, because they already had their token American writer, virtually all of the books published by Harlequin for sale in America used British words, spelling and slang. Even books that were supposedly set in America. There's still a mixture in the Harlequin books sold in America today, depending on the imprint, author, and locale. So for me, it would be strange to read a book set in England that was written in American-style English.

I've read books by a couple Australian authors who write for imprints made up of mostly American writers. I suspect they "Americanize" those books even though they're set in Australia. And I wish they wouldn't do that; I'd rather the books retain their local flavor.
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