Bad manners and bad writing? Kiss my dick. This is simply a hobby for people, not a life-long input of effort. If anyone write and publishes a novel then yes, they should know what they're talking about.

Bt being nitpicky just because you feel insulted out of some convoluted sense of honor is quite frankly he most retarded, uppity thing I've ever heard.

The point is that this is fan fiction...with FICTION being the operative word here. God knows there are enough morons who write terrible fics, so blasting on fics just because you want to be overly critical is stupid, and seems like you're trying to pick at things. The main point of the stories is Harry Potter, not the British Law and order of things. So for chrissakes, just be critical of a story where it really lacks, not where the author, in your opinion, should have researched the British culture better.

Oh, and by the way...Graduation does exist in England. I dunno if you've ever heard of this little thing called the IB...the International Baccalaureate...there is a graduation ceremony. Of course, you still get your grades only 2 months later, but there is a ceremony. And the most famous British schools have the IB, such as Sevenoaks and Haileybury, and I'm quite sure Eton features it as well.

 

Exactly, you wouldn't (and I'm knicking this from another source, see the current topic called Excellent Resource For Non-British Writers in this forum) have Buffy going down ' the chippie for a fish and chips and then go to the caff for a cuppa would you?

Actually in all fairness on this point,. England is pretty much the only country that drives on the left hand side. I think it might happen in Australia or New Zealand and possibly some of the other former colonies, but I can't say for sure. So actually in this case, the French would agree with the Americans

 

Yaargh, what gave you the idea that any schools here have graduation ceremonies. Maybe they say the students graduate, that means they leave school, not that they are doing some wierd ceremony thing. IB's or not, no ceremony.

And was there really any need to get so pathetically insulting. I was quite enjoying this light arguement, but then you went too far. To quote a friend of mine, your post consisted of " slightly bull-shitty evidence and an overly aggresive attitude".

 

Well...It wasn't really pointed at you, just in general. But y'know, if you want it to be pointed at you, then it is :/

Well, I'm originally from England, and a large part of my family still lives there. My cousin just graduated from Sevenoaks...and he had a ceremony. So thats what gave me the idea, apart from the fact that I took the IB myself, and had a graduation ceremony.

And I don't think I was being 'pathetically insulting', really, just a little over the top. I mean, considering the fact that Brit picker's do go ridiculously overboard in criticizing stupid little details, my comments just pale in comparison.

But I stand by my opinion, insulting or not...criticize the things that matter, not the things that don't. No one likes reading a fic where Harry lives in the US, so that's why the story is always set in England. If they get some minute detail wrong, why should it matter? Just read the story for what it is instead of looking for little things that stick out to your overly honed sensibilities.

 

Personally, I appreciate the effort authors invest in researching the setting, but for me, that's not crucial when forming an oppinion about some story. Sure, everyone would get at least a bit pissed off when Harry schedules a meeting with England's 'president' or some other idiocy like that, but if the story is good enough, I can usually get over it.

Of course, I WAS kinda conditioned to think that way by tons and tons of unrealistic bullshit I came across about countries from my neighbourhood, such as Albania, Rumunia, Bulgaria etc... If you think left side of the street is bad, open wikipedia, learn something about these contries, then pick any random story you praised and go over the parts where dragons are flying freely over Rumunia or Bulgarians are speaking Russian or Albania is overgrown with forests etc...

 

I don't know what state you're from, but I don't think anyone besides gangsters talks like that. Americans don't warp English that much.

Mordecai - Clean up your spelling and grammer before defending nitpicking.

 

I believe that the chippie comment was designed to be British English. The point being this:

You wouldn't ever see in fanfiction Buffy (a story set in America) going to a chippie (a British phenomena, though it has spread somewhat due to Harry Ramsden's) and then go to "a caff for a cuppa", another very British thing.

Therefore, since you wouldn't see a story set in America written by a Brit having Briticisms in it, then why should a story set in Britain written by an American have Americanisms in it?

At least, that was the arguement that was being made. I personally don't support it (there may well be a story where Buffy does do exactly what the quote says - there isn't any proof with the arguement), I was just explaining it.

 

I about fell out of my chair laughing at this thread. C'mon people, you're taking yourselves a bit too seriously here. If you want to argue over something worthwhile, try the current situation in Iraq or whatnot. Not about whether colour is spelled 'color' or 'colour' in someone's fanfiction or about things as equally inane.