Scottishisms: No, They’re Not Typos

Anyone who read the first two books of my Faerietales series – “Not So Human” and “To Err Is Faerie” – may very well have noticed some stuff that looks a whole lot like typos.

If you thought I screwed up and missed an edit, that’s understandable. But I swear that isn’t what happened. They’re what I call “Scottishisms.”

Way back in January – I believe for my first blog post, actually – I wrote that I had made a fool of myself with my Scottish editor, writing “British” and “English” as synonymous terms when they’re not at all.

For those of you who didn’t read that blog and who are on the same ignorant level as me, “British” means any citizen of the British Isles, i.e. the United Kingdom; whereas “English” means someone from the much more specific geographic locale of England. Makes sense, right?

Editor Alan Freeman was exceptionally helpful in pointing out that kind of blush-worthy mistake, and he’s also responsible for helping me flesh out my setting with lines like:

“The dense cityscape gave way to seedier neighborhoods, and then again to suburban high-rises until the last of even those buildings disappeared. The limousine kept rolling through flyovers and farmland, and finally into a hilly scenery that was downright stunning.”

That’s from “Not So Human” when Sabrina takes in the Scottish countryside. I had already seen that years ago, so I was able to remember the following thought without any outside help:

“Sabrina had heard people talk about the forty shades of green in Ireland, but she couldn’t imagine seeing more human versions of the color than what she saw on the thirty-minute ride.”

But Alan was the one who prompted the very next lines of:

“And when they drove into a brief rain shower, the following delicate light dancing off of both watery leaves and roadway made the journey even more picturesque.

“Staring out the tinted windows, Sabrina made an offhand comment about the strange weather, only to learn that it wasn’t strange at all. According to her driver, whose partition was down, the Scots had a saying: four seasons in one day.”

Love it, right? And there were plenty of smaller edits he also suggested, such as changing:

·         “Wouldn’t” to “wouldnae”

·         “Not” to “nae” or even “no”

·         “Brook” to “burn”

·         “Such” to “suchlike.”

Oh, and apparently the Scots don’t say “mate” like the Brits – excuse me, English – do. They’re much more likely to say “pal.”

Overall, I was pretty delighted with the changes he recommended. Though I do have to take some issue with the vernacular edits he made to the English Dr. Stewart’s dialogue in Faerietales 3: “Up in the Air” (which is out April 24 on Amazon.com).

Some of them were just downright creepy! I mean, I know I intentionally designed Stewart to be a wretched jerk, but he even had me shuddering with his new vocabulary choices.

Ugh!

Maybe there’s a reason why the English make such convincing villains. Their language alone is disturbing.