Can Edit If You FOLLOW THE RULES

[AsylumSeeker]

Never mind.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Thought I would help you by editing your post so the British could appreciate it. Try saying this:-

"I'm a thick skulled boor who is only capable of editing for my own parochial audience."

That should suffice.

This is okay with me -- I'm a thick skulled boor who is only capable of editing for my own parochial audience.

 

[Smooth_Steve]

Bigot

Thought I would help you by editing your post so the British could appreciate it. Try saying this:-

"I'm a thick skulled boor who is only capable of editing for my own parochial audience."

That should suffice.

I have to classify AsylumSeeker as a bigot.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

I have to classify AsylumSeeker as a bigot.

I've been accused of worse, thank you very much. At least I don't use the "b" word.

I'm actually tired of editing and so I figured if I piss off enough writers they'll stop asking, the majority being British. Seems like the master plan is working wonderfully, thanks so much for acting so predictably. Don't know what I'd do if you did something unexpected.

Since we're at odds, let's talk about Prince William -- the son of an adulterer -- and Kate Middlesex, or whatever her name is? This could be interesting...

 

[Martinstrat]

The semicolon simply isn't used that way (to announce a modifying list). A colon (although that's going out of style) or an em dash is the proper punctuation here.

I can't name Americanized editions of those authors, no. But until recent years, it was standard fare to redo British style for best sellers for the American mass market (and vice versa). Americans can be very insular and think their style is the only correct one, so books in alternative styles can upset them. I've done "translations" of some for American publishers. Often the titles also changed. I went mad trying to collect and read everything Graham Greene wrote, for instance, because I was living in Europe and trying to assemble him in both the UK and U.S. markets.

One of my first jobs in a major news agency was to translate BBC (print) English into American English for an American audience.

I remember "translating" his The Ministry of Fear for a Penguin edition once. It isn't really the spellings that prompt "translation"--it's mainly the different style of dialogue quotes. An American can be sent off the rails by British styles of quote punctuation. (Note the periodic thread that runs here of American readers complaining to British writers about their "misspellings" and "bad punctuation.")

I noticed that the U.S.-bought P.D. James book I'm now reading was left in British spelling and word usage style, but the quote style was Americanized. Since I'm used to both styles, I read right through it until a reached a word that means something entirely different in British style than it means in U.S. style (and which I recently went over with a British author writing for the U.S. market): "jumper." It's equivalent to an American pullover sweatshirt (or sweater), but "jumper" in the American context brings up a type of dress worn by school girls--so it can be quite disconcerting to an American reader to be reading along and encountering a male hunk taking off his jumper.

This whole post was very interesting and informative. Thanks for taking the time time to write it, and for sharing your firsthand experience in the publishing business.

 

[colddiesel]

I have to classify AsylumSeeker as a bigot.

Bugger off. I claim sole insulting rights on this thread. AS. has said nothing to indicate bigotry.

My insult was merely gratuitous, yours was gratuitous and wrong.

And AsylumSeeker. Be nice to Miss Middleton it's her birthday today. As for Prince William he's the son of two adulterers.

 

[DarianBlack]

...Yes. YES!

You have the PERFECT attitude, in my opinion. This is what I'm looking for, someone who isn't timid and afraid to offend. Please for the love of God be my editor. Please?

I've a "Looking for an Editor" thread, but PM me if you're willing to take a look at my writing. I'll email you a copy within 12 hours of recieving your message.

I'm a red-blooded American by the way, and I prefer my colors, COLORS.

 

[Firebrain]

...Yes. YES!

You have the PERFECT attitude, in my opinion. This is what I'm looking for, someone who isn't timid and afraid to offend. Please for the love of God be my editor. Please?

I've a "Looking for an Editor" thread, but PM me if you're willing to take a look at my writing. I'll email you a copy within 12 hours of recieving your message.

I'm a red-blooded American by the way, and I prefer my colors, COLORS.

Are you sure you shouldn't be on BDSM personals?

 

[DarianBlack]

Are you sure you shouldn't be on BDSM personals?

Who said I'm not?

 

[Firebrain]

Who said I'm not?

[cracks knuckles]

 

[oggbashan]

1. I see nothing wrong with an editor announcing that he edits in US English. Why not? If, like me, you write in British English, you could ignore any comments made that are just about differences in spelling, but differences in meaning can be very useful.

If I write a word such as "jumper" that means something completely different in the US, that is useful to know because I could replace it with a word that means the same in US and British English.

2. Translation of books from British into US English was originally a publisher's device to avoid copyright issues in the US. If there was a US version, registered for copyright within the US, then piracy could be challenged. That led to the frequent cooperation between UK and US publishers who would produce the same book in different versions, simultaneously. The US publisher would be aware of the US copyright requirements, and more importantly the US buyers' preferences for book format, and the UK publisher would know the law and market in the UK (and Empire/Commonwealth).

Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling and Gilbert and Sullivan all had trouble with their books/works being pirated in the US, losing substantial sums of money in the process. They each tried different means to circumvent it. Dickens went on lecture tours in the US. Kipling moved to the US. Gilbert and Sullivan had simultaneous premieres of their comic opera in the US and UK to establish copyright in both places. All failed to stop piracy but limited it slightly.

Og

Edited for PS:

Extract from Wikipedia

The Pirates of Penzance was the only Gilbert and Sullivan opera to have its official premiere in the United States. At the time, American law offered no copyright protection to foreigners. After their previous opera, H.M.S. Pinafore, was a hit in London, over a hundred American companies quickly mounted unauthorised productions, often taking considerable liberties with the text and paying no royalties to the creators. Gilbert and Sullivan hoped to forestall further "copyright piracy" by mounting the first production of their next opera in America, before others could copy it, and by delaying publication of the score and libretto. They succeeded in keeping for themselves the direct profits of the first production of the opera by opening the production themselves on Broadway, prior to the London production. They also operated U.S. touring companies. However, Gilbert, Sullivan, and their producer, Richard D'Oyly Carte, failed in their efforts over the next decade, to control the American performance copyrights over their operas.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Bugger off. I claim sole insulting rights on this thread. AS. has said nothing to indicate bigotry.

My insult was merely gratuitous, yours was gratuitous and wrong.

And AsylumSeeker. Be nice to Miss Middleton it's her birthday today. As for Prince William he's the son of two adulterers.

I have nothing but respect for Miss Middleton and her intended. I think it's great that they're renouncing employing 140 servants and going it alone, or so I heard in a news report. And I happen to *love* "most" Brits, spent some time there during my military career.

Thanks, colddiesel, you see through the "smoke and mirrors". Have been trying to keep away from the forums as my anger tends to surface as it did, and will try to go away again.

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

... a word that means the same in US and British English. ...

I sometimes wonder if there are any such words? Even the simple preposition "of" in US English sometimes carries over to UK English as "of" and sometimes as the verb "have". Another example is "to" which in US English sometimes means "from" in UK English.

 

[oggbashan]

I sometimes wonder if there are any such words? Even the simple preposition "of" in US English sometimes carries over to UK English as "of" and sometimes as the verb "have". Another example is "to" which in US English sometimes means "from" in UK English.

Which is why a Brit having a US editor, or vice-versa, could make a story more intelligible to a wider audience.

Og

 

[sr71plt]

Which is why a Brit having a US editor, or vice-versa, could make a story more intelligible to a wider audience.

Og

Or less so. Such a matchup could just as easily go the other way.