(no subject)

[graculus]

Ack. An editor whose opinions I usually happily accept wants me to replace 'got' with 'gotten' in one sentence of a recently-submitted zine story. Am I over-reacting when my immediate reaction is 'hell, no!'?

In case anyone was wondering, the sentence in question: There was little doubt that the sound of breaking glass was coming from inside, but how could anyone have got onto the train?

[Poll #713865]

Comments

[innocent-lex.livejournal.com]

My immediate reaction is 'hell, no'. At first blush it's a question of asking someone to write in another language - in American English instead of English. I see no reason why I should change my spelling or use a word that doesn't exist in my language just because the narrative is about an American character.

But... put my writer hat on and my question is what is the PoV? It looks like third but I can't tell how deep from the quote. The deeper the PoV, the more I would expect American words from the American PoV character. If it's not so deep then I really wouldn't worry about it, and I'd just write in my own language.

But at the end of the day, the obvious point is that 'gotten' is a fugly word that should be deleted from everyone's language.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I've happily made a serious attempt to Americanize whatever I do in zines, since I feel there needs to be some consistency across stories regardless of the nationality of the writer - since all the fandoms I write in have predominantly American characters (barring the odd host to a parasitical alien) I don't see this as a major problem. However, with this I find myself wanting to draw the line...

But at the end of the day, the obvious point is that 'gotten' is a fugly word that should be deleted from everyone's language.

Sounds about right to me! :P

[innocent-lex.livejournal.com]

I don't see a need for consistency across writers, but rather a need for consistency of voice from the characters (within reason, as every writer has a slightly different view of each character).

If you were writing in French there wouldn't be this argument of got vs gotten but you could still choose the wrong words for the character's voice and the PoV. In this case, though, you've chosen the right word because gotten is fugly. It just is. And the world doesn't need any more fugliness.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

When I was talking consistency, I meant in terms of the consistent use of US spelling etc. v a mixture of US and British/Canadian spelling etc., which would be offputting (imo) to readers if happening across a whole zine. However, I would say that I don't always Americanise stuff if it's going to my website and isn't going to be seen in conjunction with other people's work...

[innocent-lex.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay. I guess that's a personal thing for a zine editor then. But wanting US spelling for a zine is rather like wanting an English translation of a French story - the editor is translating the story from English into American English. I think that's something different from making a particular choice between a normal word and a fugly word. Did I mention it's fugly? I did? Excellent.

*g*