UK Elliquiy members, I have a request

Started by NileGoddess, July 28, 2014, 08:06:07 PM

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NileGoddess

To any Elliquiy users in the UK or from that region, I am in the process or organizing a game in the Tomb Raider universe, and I was looking for anyone from the UK who might have some free time when it gets started to field any questions about the English language from the mindset of someone born and raised there.

I'm American, and will be writing Lara Croft's dialogue, who is British, and I'd like to really nail the subtle nuances of the language in that region. Mostly things like grammar, word usage, things of that nature. All that would be required is to read a few chunks of texts I have questions on, or if it strikes your fancy, just look over my posts and offer advice and corrections.

Either post here, or PM me.

Nile

Dale

Hi. I'm English, so, yes British, and know something of archaeology, if I can help you with questions or chunks of text when I have time.

HairyHeretic

Keep in mind that different regions and social classes could also see differences in word usage.
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Haibane

Nile, I could help out, just throw me some blocks of text and I'll try to "Brit" them. Bear in mind there's really no such thing as "British" English when it's spoken, unless you are referring to BBC English.

I'm from the south, white and middle class and my nuances are shaped by that.

I don't know the Lara Croft universe so I don't know from what region of Britian she's supposed to be and which class. Both elements make a HUGE difference in how a person speaks and approaches the world around them. If you can supply that information it'll help.

NileGoddess

Thanks Hai. I knew region and dialect would need to be addressed, but I'm not sure if Lara Croft was ever given those kinds of specifics. I could be wrong though, and I was planning on doing some more research. Otherwise, she'd be very upper class; an aristocrat, and there's mention of attending finishing school in her background.

The Dark Raven

Extra bit of info on Lara Croft:  She is not from the North and she is not from the West Country.  I had always thought she was from around Sussex or something, but I don't know if I ever saw.

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Chrystal

Quote from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lara_Croft
Description

Lara Croft is depicted as an athletic and fast woman with brown eyes and reddish-brown hair, frequently kept in a plait or ponytail. The character's classic costume is a turquoise tank top, light brown shorts, calf-high boots, and long white socks. Accessories include fingerless gloves, a backpack, a utility belt with holsters on either side, and two pistols. The video game sequels introduced new outfits designed for different environments, such as underwater and cold weather. In the later games, Croft wears a crop top, camouflage pants and black or light brown shirts. When exploring, she often carries two pistols, but has used other weaponry throughout the series. Lara Croft is fluent in several languages.

Game manuals describe the character as the Wimbledon, London-born daughter of the fictional Lord Henshingly Croft (Lord Richard Croft in Legend and its sequels). She was raised as an aristocrat and betrothed to the fictitious Earl of Farringdon. Lara Croft attended the Scottish boarding school Gordonstoun and a Swiss finishing school. A plane crash left the character stranded in the Himalayas for two weeks; the experience spurred her to shun her former life and seek other adventures around the world. Croft wrote books and other published works based on her exploits as a mercenary, big-game hunter, and master thief. The story was later changed to include her mother in the plane crash. While searching for shelter against the elements, Lara Croft witnesses her mother vanish after tampering with an ancient sword. Her father disappears in search of his wife.

So she is English Aristocracy and went to finishing school...

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Oniya

So, London accent, but might have some Scottish vocabulary by osmosis (depending on what sorts of people she encountered at the finishing school.  Some of the 'unfinished' students might have still had rough edges.)
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
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oceanspool

Quote from: Oniya on August 08, 2014, 10:46:13 AM
So, London accent, but might have some Scottish vocabulary by osmosis (depending on what sorts of people she encountered at the finishing school.  Some of the 'unfinished' students might have still had rough edges.)

I highly doubt it, as Gordonstoun is the school that royals and the like go to - no unfinished students there!

Oniya

Ah, so they've had a pre-sanding and priming done beforehand.  Got it.  ;)
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Chrystal

*giggles*

A finishing School is actually a "college for ladies", aged usually between 18 and 21, where they are taught how to be aristocracy! Gordonstoun is a co-ed Private School catering to ages from 8 to 18. And only the wealthy get to send their kids there...
http://www.gordonstoun.org.uk/fees

Seriously, that is expensive, considering that you can get a perfectly good education completely free of charge!

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NileGoddess

Quote from: oceanspool on August 08, 2014, 04:24:57 PM
I highly doubt it, as Gordonstoun is the school that royals and the like go to - no unfinished students there!

This, to my knowledge, has been part of what makes Lara Croft unique. She's painted as an aristocrat born into money, but with a thirst and passion for adventure. Rather than come off as some kind of rich-girl rebel, she completely encompasses both aspects of her life. She's both a proper lady with vast wealth, education, manners, and heritage, but she can quickly become an adventurer and plunge into danger just like that.

But thank you everyone who has chimed in so far. Even if we can't pin down her dialect exactly, I'm more concerned with catching things like terms and vocabulary that someone English might use (ie, saying 'dustbin' instead of 'dumpster', using the metric system, etc).

Chrystal

Case in point... A dumpster in the USA is usually called a skip in the UK (if it is one of those big, static things), or a "wheelie-bin" if it is on wheels!

This is a wheelie-bin.

This would be classed as a skip.

This is what we usually call a skip.

And these are what we call "closed skips".

Hope that helps?


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I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Cassandra LeMay

Here is a list that you might find useful. I am not certain about every single term on the list, but most of it strikes me as sound. Perhaps one of native speakers of BE here can point out if there is something amiss, but it should cover general terms sufficiently.

But in general I wouldn't worry too much. For one, Lara Crift is a globetrotter. She's been around the world a couple times. She might as well have picked up a smattering of slang and idiom here and there and mix and match it freely. To show off her upbringing I would focus more on perhaps a somewhat refined manner of speaking and less on terms or spelling, i.e. not using colloquialisms in certain situations, sometimes writing "it is" instead of "it's", and so on.

That said, from my experience, attempts at writing certain speech patterns end up being either too subtle to be widely noticed or too strong to feel real, most of the time.
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Chrystal

Actually that is something that is particularly important...

In the UK we start numbering our floors from zero (Ground floor) The first floor is the first one above ground level, the second floor is the second one above ground level and so on in a logical fashion.

In the USA you start at 1, so the first floor is the one at ground level, the second floor is the first one above ground level, the third floor is the second one above ground level and so on in a rather illogical fashion.

Interestingly, basements and sub-basements number from -1 in the UK, logically.

Dates are another important thing. In the UK we do things logically and either go DD/MM/YY or CCYYMMDD if you work with computers. Only the USA insists that the date is month day year...

UK logical progression:  01/01/01 02/01/01 03/01/01 ... 29/01/01 30/01/01 31/01/01 01/02/01 02/02/01...
US illogical progression: 01/01/01 01/02/01 01/03/01 ... 01/29/01 01/30/01 01/31/01 02/01/01 02/02/01...

We increment the first number then roll over to increment the second number, then roll over to increment the third.
You increment the second number, step back to increment the first, then skip over to increment the third...

Incidentally it is a popular urban legend over here that Al Quaida attacked London on the seventh of July so the Americans wouldn't get the date wrong....!

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Oniya

I wouldn't say that floor numbering in either system is particularly illogical.  I can certainly see the logic in the UK system, but in the US system, if you have a building with five floors, the top floor is the fifth of those five floors, and therefore gets number 5.  It all depends on your origin (maths pun!)

I do think that the UK abbreviation for mathematics makes more sense.  'Math' sounds singular, and we really don't talk about 'a mathematic.' 
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Dale

Quote from: Cassandra LeMay on August 11, 2014, 01:29:19 PM
Here is a list that you might find useful. I am not certain about every single term on the list, but most of it strikes me as sound. Perhaps one of native speakers of BE here can point out if there is something amiss, but it should cover general terms sufficiently.

But in general I wouldn't worry too much. For one, Lara Crift is a globetrotter. She's been around the world a couple times. She might as well have picked up a smattering of slang and idiom here and there and mix and match it freely. To show off her upbringing I would focus more on perhaps a somewhat refined manner of speaking and less on terms or spelling, i.e. not using colloquialisms in certain situations, sometimes writing "it is" instead of "it's", and so on.

That said, from my experience, attempts at writing certain speech patterns end up being either too subtle to be widely noticed or too strong to feel real, most of the time.

A modern, young British royal who has travelled and fits in is Prince Harry, who has the public school accent not a London accent. I used to know a Lord who speaks rather like Harry and have met one who was of his father's generation.
Harry would probably say "Half past ten" his father's generation telling the time would probably sound a more clipped "huf pust ten"
Keeley Hawes voiced Lara 2006 - 2013 so may give a good guide.

Frequent usage   Dictionary English   American English
crisp                  potato crisp          potato chip
               silencer (on a car or gun)    muffler
tube                  underground           subway
Vet                   veterinary surgeon    veterinarian
Carriage             wagon (on a train)    car


Generally, if pointing out something "It is plain to see." would be used losing patience formally with an official of some sort in a dispute. Amongst friends "It's obvious." Being sarcastic "Plain as the nose on your face." The accent stays the same but the choice of words can alter.

I was raised to speak BBC English there was a Scottish influence but I rarely use a Scots word like wee for small.

I hope that helps,
Lock

Chrystal

Quote from: Lock on August 12, 2014, 04:53:52 AM
A modern, young British royal who has travelled and fits in is Prince Harry, who has the public school accent not a London accent. I used to know a Lord who speaks rather like Harry and have met one who was of his father's generation.
Harry would probably say "Half past ten" his father's generation telling the time would probably sound a more clipped "huf pust ten"
Keeley Hawes voiced Lara 2006 - 2013 so may give a good guide.

Frequent usage   Dictionary English   American English
crisp                  potato crisp          potato chip
               silencer (on a car or gun)    muffler
tube                  underground           subway
Vet                   veterinary surgeon    veterinarian
Carriage             wagon (on a train)    car


Generally, if pointing out something "It is plain to see." would be used losing patience formally with an official of some sort in a dispute. Amongst friends "It's obvious." Being sarcastic "Plain as the nose on your face." The accent stays the same but the choice of words can alter.

I was raised to speak BBC English there was a Scottish influence but I rarely use a Scots word like wee for small.

I hope that helps,
Lock

On the subject of time, my parents would often say things like "Five and twenty past" rather than "twenty five past". I think this comes from them both being RN in the 1940s.

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Polymorph

Lara Croft's accent would possibly be what we refer to in England as a Sloan Ranger. Sloan Square being an extremely expensive area in London almost exclusively inhabited by the wealthiest. The accent is synonymous with the higher class and privately educated and markedly different to that spoken by the middle and working class folk living adjacent to them. Though the origin of the name might be from London the upper class from any part of the country might speak it rather than the local accent or dialect associated with the area from which they actually originate.

SuziWoozi

Quote from: Polymorph on August 13, 2014, 06:16:28 AM
Lara Croft's accent would possibly be what we refer to in England as a Sloan Ranger. Sloan Square being an extremely expensive area in London almost exclusively inhabited by the wealthiest. The accent is synonymous with the higher class and privately educated and markedly different to that spoken by the middle and working class folk living adjacent to them. Though the origin of the name might be from London the upper class from any part of the country might speak it rather than the local accent or dialect associated with the area from which they actually originate.

Polymorph is spot on, Lara Croft would be the archetypical Sloane Ranger, born the Upper Class and privately educated,  indeed even if she was from the provinces, her class and upbring would be the core of an accent and word use.
Suzi

consortium11

Indeed... while in the "lower" classes accents, speech patterns and word choice/slang differ a lot by location, they're a lot more harmonious in the upper classes. There's a similar tend in that many middle class people speak roughly the same way but their verbiage tends to reflect their location more.

If you want an idea of how Lara would speak, you could do worse than watch some of Made in Chelsea. It's one of psuedo-reality shows that follows a group of "friends" around (so similar to the various "Real Wives of..." series), in this case focusing on extremely privileged young people with links to the Chelsea area. Obviously it's not necessarily perfect for her, but it sums up pretty well how fairly young people with that sort of upbringing sound and what word choices they tend to use.

Chrystal

According to the wiki, Lara was born in womble country, within the sound of felt-covered rubber on taught nylon... So very much an upper class area of London!

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!