Another dealbreaker moment for me. In an historical romance set in Victorian England, this passage:
Quote:
“He said you were the homeliest girl in St. Ives.”
Alice was truly shocked, for she’d always liked Julian and the two of them had been friends when they were children. “He did? How old was I? Perhaps I was the homeliest.”
Shaking her head, Elda said, “No. You were never the homeliest. I think he said that terrible thing because he didn’t want the other boys to know how much he liked you.”
“That makes more sense,” Alice said, laughing. It wasn’t that she was vain, but she did have a certain appreciation of the fact that she wasn’t ugly."
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(e.a.)
In my experience, "homely" as a synonym of "ugly" is distinctively US, and it seems that at least one reputable Dictionary agrees
Oxford Dictionary of English :
homely /ˈhəʊmli /
▸ adjective
(homelier, homeliest)
1 British (of a place or surroundings) simple but cosy and comfortable, as in one's own home:
a modern hotel with a homely atmosphere.
▪️ simple and unpretentious:
homely pleasures.
2 North American (of a person) unattractive in appearance.
The reality is that if the author's character had been called "hopmely", they would have been cofused, not insulted. Yet another example of a US author making zero effort to have her characters speak their own language, not that of the author.
