[Britpicking] Help?

[shimotsuki]

I have a favo(u)r to ask of any British English speakers who might happen to see this.

I've submitted my redandthewolf story Seeds of Suspicion to a fanfic archive site, and my (American English speaking) beta there informs me that the phrase to have gotten, in her words, "drives the Brits mad." (I think I once knew that, but then I forgot.)

Anyway, I apparently need help revising this bit to make it British-compliant. Any suggestions?

"It's just," Peter went on, fiddling with his bottle, "maybe there's a reason Remus hasn't been coming over here lately. Maybe he's gotten involved in something that—something that means he can't look us in the eye any more."

The intended meaning is something like he has become involved -- only I imagine I'd want something more colloquial than that for a butterbeer-imbibing Peter to say.

Many thanks!

Comments

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

I would just say 'he's got'.

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

You really need to use this icon more often. You've neglected it lately.

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

I keep forgetting about this one, too...

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

How could you?

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

I know, it's criminal. It's just that it's the last in the list and I forget to scroll...

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

"Adorkable" -- I like it!

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

If only he looked like this in the films!

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Oh, good, it's that easy. Thanks much, and I'll keep this in mind for future stories. ;)

By the way, you have my full authorization to publicly Britpick anything I post fic-wise, especially if there's something that sounds really blatantly non-British to you!

(This got(ten) thing seems to be a deeply entrenched difference between BrEng and AmEng, because my brain screams in protest at 'he's got involved.' Like when my former NZ roomie used to say 'X is different to Y.')

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

Welcome. :)

I'd always be happy to read through for a quick Britpick, if ever you're in need -- just shout.

I think 'gotten' is the Americanism that we come across the most, or at least, it's one that most people intantly picks up on, as it looks odd for you to just say 'he's got', 'gotten' seems almost lazy to me -- even if it is a longer word!

I would say, 'different to', as well, in most cases. ;)

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

I'd always be happy to read through for a quick Britpick, if ever you're in need -- just shout.

Thank you for the kind offer! I'll try not to abuse it, but I may have a question for you from time to time.

I would say, 'different to', as well, in most cases. ;)

I suspected that might be the case. ;)

[wildmagelet.livejournal.com]

Like when my former NZ roomie used to say 'X is different to Y.'

Is there something weird to an American about saying that? :) What would you say?

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

I can't speak for absolutely all American dialect areas, but I'd definitely never heard that expression until my roomie used it (she was raised in NZ, moved to Australia, spent some time in London, and then came to the US for grad school).

I think most Americans would say 'X is different from Y' or even 'X is different than Y'. This second one is frowned upon by grammar sticklers but it's becoming extremely common in speech and even shows up in written language over here.

I love finding these points of difference among different kinds of English...

[bratanimus.livejournal.com]

Just popping in to say hi, and that work has been stomping me flat of late. I will email you back posthaste. ;)

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Hi back! Sorry to hear about the stomping-flat part, but e-mail is supposed to be for fun, not another cause of stress, so don't you dare worry about writing back. Whenever!

*goes back to mountains and heaps of papers to grade*

[bratanimus.livejournal.com]

Hee hee, I figured you'd understand, but still ... Thanks for understanding! :D