(no subject)

[doyle]

Hmm. Looking through some old BBF discussion and I saw this comment by Gyrus (whose LJ handle I forget, sorry):

(For example, I recently read a fic in which something bad happens and Giles tries to tell Buffy that there was no way she could have anticipated it. She replies, "But I should've done!" That just looks weird to a Yank like me.)

I'm sure I'm guilty of using that myself. Why's it wrong? Should it be 'shoulda' instead of should've?

...any other glaring errors any of you have noticed non-Americans making? Because god knows I could go on for pages in obsessive Brit-picking of both Harry Potter fics and Buffy fics set in England (the language thing I get, but some of the cultural stuff, the 'my character's British so they've never heard of ___' : we do have pizzas and action movies and strange flavours of chips/crisps in Britain and Ireland, I promise you)

Comments

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Yep. They're vile.

[kimera.livejournal.com]

Gasp! They're yummeh!

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

:points: Freak of nature!

Are there pickled onion crisps/chips/corn snacks in America? Because I suppose there must be but they seem like such a British thing.

[kimera.livejournal.com]

I dunno... I know we have pickle chips in Canada, and sour cream & onion... not so sure about pickled onion though. And, no clue about the US ;)

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Ahaha. The worst part is I know so many people who would just look at you oddly and think "but... Canada's the same as America, isn't it?"

[kimera.livejournal.com]

Gah! Sadly, that's true. I've actually stumbled across fic supposedly set in Canada where people tried to stick dollar bills in vending machines. And while, yes, most stores will take American currency, a vending machine has no place for a bill to go! WTF?

And kilometres! Not miles! Augh!

Plus, Canadian chocolate is *so* much better than American. Not as good as the stuff from the UK, but still. Smarties kick M&M's ass any day of the week.

...oops, I'm starting to vent, aren't I?

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

They've started to do Smarties in bags over here rather than tubes. This is the most brilliant idea ever because - so many smarties! So easy to pick out the orange ones!

[kimera.livejournal.com]

Hee! They sell *whole boxes* of orange smarties here now. The first time I saw that I was like "OMGBESTIDEAEVER!"

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

...

:moves to Canada:

[indri]

Not that I've seen, more's the pity. Nor are there any prawn cocktail flavoured ones. I actually think the UK has a wider range of strangely-flavoured crisps than the US.

But it's hard to be sure simply because there are strong regional variations in the US.