Ameripicking

[transemacabre]

I read a fic recently where Bruce Banner thought of a napkin as a 'serviette', and this came to mind. There's been a backlash over Americanisms in British fandoms, notably Harry Potter; there's websites and lj comms devoted to helping Americans British better in their fics. But there's sadly little on the reverse.

The thing is, Bruce Banner is astoundingly unlikely to use such a distinctively un-American word for something as everyday as a napkin. Even I only know what a serviette is because I read a Britpicking website, and I can wax lyrical on the history of huscarls for fuck's sake. Bobby Drake is even less like to use the word 'Bloody' in the typical British manner. But I'm American and I spell everything with extra 'u's and go 'Pip pip, guvnah!', you cry. Listen up, fanpoodle. Just because you're such a Britophile that when you sneeze The Doctor feels a light breeze caress his left testicle, does not mean that Bruce Banner and Bobby Drake are the same way.

Comments

[curtana.livejournal.com]

Serviette is way more likely to make it sound like it was written by a Canadian, to me - people here use that word about equally as often as napkin :)