Why should American be considered the default version of English?

[tj_rowe]

I just got a review. (It's always sparked by that, isn't it?)

Only thing I see is saying that Raimundo was bouncing a football on his knee. Either you meant that he was bouncing a soccerball on his knee, or you were mixing spanish with english...(football means soccer in spanish, unless you say 'american football,' then it means...well, football. I don't think I explained that very wel...)

My reply: I think you mean that I was confusing English and -American-. I am English, therefore I use the English words. From England. It should be made plain by the abundance of 'u's scattered around which variation of the language I am using. If I meant 'american football' I would say 'Rugby ball' (refering to the balls. If it was the game, it would just be Rugby).

Ugh, sorry to be snarky. But this sort of thing really gets on my nerves.


Am I being fair? After all, the majority of ff.net fanthings *are* American, but targeting an audience of American teenagers who don't even know the variations in their own language does seem to be selling out more-than-a-little-bit.

And really: Does it make that much difference for a fanthing to be picturing a rugger ball rather than a football? Generally I try to use non-ambiguous words anyway, and I don't want to lecture on 'Football is a game played by two teams, both of which are trying to get the ball to the other end' and that the variations are 'soccer football' with a round ball and 'rugby football' with a rugger ball and one country decided to shorten one one way and one the other and the other country did it the opposite way around, because I have no interest in football of any description and he knows what kind of balls Raimundo plays with and that I'm British so is it really that hard to figure out what's meant?

*deep breath*

Bah Humbug.

Comments

[sparksearcher.livejournal.com]

I think you're being fair. I'm American but I wasn't offended by your reply or anything. Sometimes I get confused when I read other stories because I see things spelled differently than I would (if it's the u's then I know right away, but sometimes it's the difference between s's and z's) or words, like football, used differently. But usually after thinking about it (and thinking before speaking) I figure out that the author's not where I'm from.

I've had people try to guess where I'm from by my writing style. They're usually wrong and don't think I'm American. Strange because I use the American phrases and spellings and whatnot. *shrugs* Maybe talking to Jadebell and EvilDiva's rubbed off on me.

[tamerterra.livejournal.com]

*g* I remember guessing at your nationality back in my first review to one of your stories. I was all 'Love the Brithumour!' and you were all 'Um, no. I'm American' and then I was all 'Oh. How odd.' XD

[jadebell.livejournal.com]

Hee hee.

Is that what footballs are called in America? Soccerballs? The soccerball World Cup?

[tamerterra.livejournal.com]

*gigglesnort*

[aldrius.livejournal.com]

=P

Soccer Ball.

And I think we just call it the world cup...

We being the in-between crowd. ;_;