I've just seen a thread on 'Writers forums' that most people don't accept American words in British books. So my question is, do you mind American words written by British people, or don't you mind as long as the word is used in the right context?
I've just seen a thread on 'Writers forums' that most people don't accept American words in British books. So my question is, do you mind American words written by British people, or don't you mind as long as the word is used in the right context?
It would definitely depend on the context, but no, as a reader it wouldn't 'put me off' a book.
Although, like the others, I wouldn't necessarily have considered 'gotten' an American word.
I don't quite know what to think of that, because isn't English classified as the 'magpie language'? Our language is made up of ideas from other languages. If we are talking about 'gotten' i've never used because I was never quite sure if it was the correct way of speaking anywa, I didn't think about it being an Amemrican word either. It is interesting. You have made me think.
I didn't know gotten was an American word! I think it depends on the context for me too where if I'm reading an American novel it's fine but if I'm reading a British novel and a random American word is dropped in, it does bug me a bit.
The problem is whereas American publishers edit British books for their audience, we don't. Add that to so much US TV and a few words are bound to slip through into British language too. I always say "films" instead of "movies" though, for some reason that one really bugs me!