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11/27/2006 Archived Entry: "Ulrika on BrE vs AmE"

Ulrika goes off writing about British English vs American English and usages British authors shouldn't commit when writing supposed American dialog.

"Stop sorting quite so much. Americans fix things, they figure things out, they make arrangements, they set stuff up, they certainly get things squared away, and occasionally they might even sort things out in their own minds, but they only sort things when they’re dividing groups of objects into smaller subgroups by what kind of thing they are, like sorting laundry into whites and colors. If you don’t mean acts of separating the sheep from the goats, don’t sort. And on the subject of things strewn about, Americans clear up only that which was previously unclear. For after supper, or general acts of extracting order from chaos, try 'cleaning up' or 'tidying up' instead. If you must, you may clear away the dishes."

D'oh! Ulrika put this entry back on friendslock so unless you are on her friends list, you won't be able to read it. Sorry!

(tags: UlrikaObrien, AmericanEnglish)