Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
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From: lazuli@eskimo.com (Fred Sloniker)
Subject: Re: Comprehending British dialect (Re: British v. American Vocabulary)
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References: <429p19$12o@newsbf02.news.aol.com> <19950903.101535.14@arnod.arnod.demon.co.uk> <1995Sep6.071227.20964@news.cs.indiana.edu>
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 1995 02:53:24 GMT
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Sam Hulick <shulick@mango.ucs.indiana.edu> wrote:

>The only problem I have is playing a British game and running into all
>sorts of things where I think "What is THAT?" :)  Let's say that a
>puzzle involved putting a diaper on a baby (weird example, but oh well
>:).  You look around and eventually.. "You can see a nappy here."  How
>would an American know what that is?

Reminds me of the bit of "Trinity" that's in one of the samplers
available at ftp.gmd.de; at one point, I ran across a perambulator,
and had to think a moment before I figured out they meant a baby
carriage.  (Oddly enough, upon the heels of that realization came the
realization that I already knew it as a 'pram', a synonym the game
accepted.)

I don't mind running across a Britishism in a game or novel as long as
I can determine what it is by context.  In a novel, the context of a
'lorry' would be someone flagging it down, riding in it someplace, and
paying when they got out (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about
the definition); in a game, you should be able to examine it and get
something more meaningful than 'it looks just like every other lorry
you've ever seen'.  Something about the hack (Americanism here)
sitting in the driver's seat, looking at you as if to say 'no tip
today', would do nicely.

				---Fred M. Sloniker, cleric at large
				   L. Lazuli R'kamos, FurryMUCKer
				   lazuli@eskimo.com

"How appropriate.  You fight like a cow."  --"The Secret of Monkey Island"
