We really aren't as great as some Americans make out. A few that I've met seemed to be obsessed that English people are amazing. We really aren't. Really really. Most of the country's full of pregnant 13 year olds and people stumbling through the streets a) drunk, b) bleeding after a fight, c) all of the above.

So why do people insist on making English characters /on forums based in America/? I'm admin on a boarding school roleplay, and it's set in California. And over the past few months we've been open, there's been about fifty English characters come and go. The worst one I saw recently for a reason they were in the school was that they were "bored not being in school, so she demanded to her father that she went to an American school." YEAH. Because all of us really want to go back to high school for another two years, after we've just had our GCSE exams.

And most of them aren't even that English. The Americans have slang; they say things different to English. Fag. English = cigarette. American = not a very nice thing to call someone. Fanny. English = lady parts. American = butt. And there's things that people say. They put "mom" in their posts, and "ass." English say "mum" and "bum" or "arse." So firstly: when was the last time your school had fifty kids in its senior year? Second: if you're playing someone from England, PLEASE, don't make them from "London." We're small, but we're not entirely one city. There's Northern England, there's England that's even more southern than London, there's Wales, Scotland, Ireland; but England seems to be the favourite. There's Manchest, Brighton, Blackpool, Liverpool, Newcastle, Birmingham, and their accents are pretty much fun to type out.

So to all you who play English: if you're English and you actually make your character speak with English phrases and say things like "I'm going to the toilet" instead of "bathroom" then fine, I can accept that. If you're not from England/the UK, at least do some homework on one, a place in England that /isn't/ London, and two, an accent. At the very least, those two things.

And even in Harry Potter roleplays; they don't have to be from London. Just because King's Cross is in London doesn't mean they can't get there on a train in 4 hours.

This has annoyed me for so long, I can't believe I haven't written a rant about it before.

Note: I'm English. XD I'm not complaining about the English, I just want to set people straight. Because seriously, it annoys me. When I make people from other countries, I don't name the capital. I don't even name the biggest city in the country/state. I go on Google Maps, pick a spot at random in the area and say "that's his house."

anya knew some of that. which is why very few of her english charas are from london. XD
and i knew the arse and bum and mum and fag thing. but... then again... i've known you
for like... two years. xD so my english knowledge is kinda better than some. =P oh! and i
knew the toilet thing too. x] <333 i luffs youse. <3333

<33

There's a huge list of "Briticisms" somewhere. xD I'mma go find it..

Edit: ta-da. [=
http://rpg-directory.com/index.php?showtopic=10544

My character Lyra is English. ^_^
She's from Bristol, though, if that helps. Actually, I'd love to see a good rp based in Wales or something.

Yay for not-London. xD I rarely see characters from the North though. I'm from the North. xD What's wrong with that? People seem to think that England is basically London.

And I don't think I've ever seen a Welsh roleplay, either.

Well, on the HP site I was on for the longest time;; it was strictly canon, which means they can't attend unless they are from the UK. So my first character, of course, was British.

However, I have enough British friends to know the difference... and I didn't make her from London. She actually came from somewhere in Manchester.

I use British slang in my every day life because people here tend to look at me weird and I like being weird. ;)

So...yeah, I understand where you're coming from... people need to do their homework before making a character from a certain place. I don't even try to do certain accents though, I am terrible with writing accents ;) but slang? I totally use all the time.

(On a side note: I had a friend who played a character from Leeds, Yorkshire and she did the accent phenomenally well... of course, she is in England. :p)

Bwaha. Leeds isn't that far away from me. [=

But on the forum I'm part of, the only English characters I've seen are from London. .__. it's pretty annoying.

I think the English thing is specifically due to Harry Potter; this problem, however, isn't specific to Briticisms.

The vast majority of any RP, fiction, site, or whatever based in a culture different from that to which the writer belongs is just plain wrong. People don't bother to research, because they either don't care or are just so insulated that they honestly don't know that different areas have different cultures.

Because of my RP background, I tend to refer to this phenomenon as "Tokyo Ohio" -- sure, you say your RP is set in Tokyo, but it's certainly not Tokyo Japan! So, I guess in the case of this specific rant you could call it "London California." XD

For those of you who aren't Americans, do you ever see this trend reversed, or is U.S. culture so pervasive in the media that it's impossible for a Brit to write an American as incorrectly as an American does a Brit?

I'm English and a few of my characters are from the UK but I generally avoid London for where they're from, the closest I get is Oxford, but my latest characters have been from Falmouth, York, Oxford and Sark which is one of the smaller Channel Islands (I went there on holiday and fell in love with the place, they don't have cars just tractors, bikes and horses it's amazing) I've also had a character from Holyhead in Wales and one from Newry in Northern Island, I generally avoid all capital cities and prefer smaller places that people haven't really heard of (like Sark) :lol:

What annoys me is when people make English men like perfect gentlemen, it can get really annoying sometimes, not that it's a bad thing but it's when they are all like that then it's a bit repetitive.

And on a side note, I say Mum and my friends say I'm posh because they all say Mom, it could just be where I'm from but most people round me say Mom rather than Mum.

I kinda feel like folks from London feel that way, too. But hey, I'm just bitter because I'm from the Midlands which people from the North and South always just lump in with the the other end of the country *grumble*

To be fair, mom and ass aren't real problems, I know a lot of English folks who use them, myself included. My mom was brought up saying mom and she brought us up saying mom.

I have a friend who says "mom," but a lot of people are here say "mam." I have no idea where it came from, but I certainly don't say it. People had accused me of being posh before. Once because of how I pronounce "toast" oddly. x.o But yeah. I'm not that posh. XD

And I say ass. But only because I dislike my dad. I only use it when I say "My dad's an ass." XD But I don't "say it" say it. I just use it on msn and the like. xD A lot of people are here put "like" in every sentence, too. It annoys my sister, because I count on my fingers how many times she says it. [=

My only caharcter who hails from London hails from Waltham Forest and I have researched England thoroughly and know it sufficiently to be able to play characters well enough, although I don't always use briticisms.

My other characters are from Dublin, Durham and I had an NPC from Edinbrugh (and I even did the accent, woo!)

Ha, Sean I know what you mean... I had a site and everyone joined as being from England. EVERYONE WAS FROM LONDON! I dunno about you but the minuet I mention being English, everyone asks me if I'm from London... I've been to london about three times in my life. I'm a Brighton girl. XD

But I know what you mean, the insist they are British characters but don't use any britishisms. Can't really hold it against them but their history is they were born and brought up in London but they don't change their slang talk to anything a brit would say. :(

Also. Everyone single one of them said things along the lines "Her posh accent". We don't all speak like some of those weirdo's you get on TV. Watch a clip of 'Eastenders', most people talk like that......... lol. Well not most, everyone has different accents but if you are going to insist your characters are from London, at least get an idea of the London chatter. xD

Bwaha. Eastenders. XD

But yeah. I went on a cruise in the Caribbean a few years ago, and all of these kids walked up to me and said "ARE YOU FROM LONDON?!" They were all American; like, 6 - 12 years old. I said "no" and they said "BUT YOU'RE FROM ENGLAND!" And I was like.. "Yeah.."

And then they all said "DO I HAVE AN ACCENT?!" I put everything in capitals because they shouted at me: in the kind of way that people raise their voices to people who don't speak English, as if it helps them understand better. But no, of course you don't have an accent.. What kind of question is that? D= Everyone has an accent! There's no neutral tone of voice! It's just silence!

I currently have a character living in London. The company she works for is there so she lives there *shrug*

I don't do my research too much but when I do have a question, I have a couple friends I have as my "British Consultants" so they call themselves.

I actually try not to use the Britishisms too much. I get too worried I'll overdo it.

It depends whereabouts your character is from. xD For example, the average person from Leeds will a lot of those Briticisms. But I don't. Despite being about ten miles away from Leeds, I dislike the area I'm from. xD So I speak with my own vocabulary; not one that I've grown up around. People here say "owt" for "anything" - but I say "anything" because I don't like the way people sound when they say it. I never have, and I really couldn't see myself taking on a lot of Briticisms. xD In fact, the way I type, is the way I talk. I don't type "owt" or "mam" because that isn't what I say. Obviously I don't say "xD" when I find something amusing. XD

What kind of annoys me is when people are all 'and Sarah's British accent was especially strong as she talked to Daniel'; I mean, if you're English, then you don't notice your accent at all, so it just sounds really odd. Yeah... I doubt if I'd be able to play an American character, though. I'd forget and say 'mum' and 'arse' and 'colour'. And I'd probably get the culture completely wrong. But I tend not to play American characters, which somewhat alleviates the problem!

(I type like I talk, too. It's why I sometimes put, like, 'like' in the middle of sentences even though it isn't grammatically correct. : P And everyone says 'mam' here, too, although my characters never have.)

I put like in my sentences on msn a lot. XD

And I don't really think that "colour" or "flavour" really matter. =P It's only a spelling; it's still the same word. I just think Americans have a phobia of the letter U. xD

Awesome, I got pimped.

Bloody liar! Do not listen to the OP, we English are amazing. Clearly Seanu is French with his English negativity. Go away French man! I poo poo on you! Now, go back to worshipping us. Ahem.

Back to normal now. I has pills.

I do see it a lot, hence, really, why the list came into being. I can understand why not using the list would be fruitful but there are also cases, as have been outlined, where ignorance makes you look...silly. Better to have the knowledge and to be able to choose when to use it, than to not bother at all.

I like to educate a bit more these days; get people to youtube their character's place of birth or residence to get an idea of the accent.

Some things are harder to teach. Such as why you shouldn't use 'damn' for a Brit when making a positive exclamation, or the difference between ass and arse. Americanisms will always slip in because it's hard for someone who is not familiar with the country, to be able to pick out what is an Americanism, from a Briticism.

There are other aspects though, beyond vocabulary that I find problematic. Things that are harder to teach, such as food. Take breakfast for example! Not an omelette in sight (man I haven't had an omelette in forever..) nor a fry up! I still see Brits in RPGs sitting down to pancakes and syrup, French-toast or waffles. I'm sure the odd person in England eats this on a Sunday morning, but it's rare. Especially as our pancakes are crepes.

Once upon a time I had a whole vat of information on British eating habits, including meals, snacks and drinks (including beer--not all Irish drink stout!). Now that was enormous.

Well we are pretty amazing. But not in the most amazing sense that most other people believe.

And how dare you poo poo on me? D= I pimped you.

Yeah, I've had folks who seemed otherwise reasonably sane and intelligent claim that they didn't have an accent. It's... baffling.

I thought everyone knew that everyone had an accent. But I've even been asked if I have an accent by other English people. .__.

My grandmother was British (a war bride from the War to End all Wars), so I picked up some weird habits of speech when I was young. I can't count how many times I've had to explain 'clabbered' and I'm the only person I know outside my family who says stuff like 'needs must when the Devil drives.' I also genuinely like marmalade -- though you can keep marmite thankyouverymuch.

In my experience, usually non-Americans do a reasonably good job of playing Americans as long as they steer clear of politics and the military, both of which seem to completely confound them. There'll be the occasional odd idiom -- 'holding thumbs' comes to mind -- but not really that much.

Oh, lol. So seriously lol.

I do understand completely where you're coming from, because I am from that curious mix of Brit and American culture plus a whack of our own made up stuff. I have seen boards based in Australia that have 'freshmen', 'junior highschool' and people get places on the 'subway'. Apparently the only place in Australia is Sydney, which is also the nations capital, everyone eats Burger King, shops at Walmart and summer is in August.

To correct: Highschool is generally 7-12, with the exception of some prep-12, and special HSC schools. The closest I've seen to a subway is the Melbourne city loop, which is a whole five stations, I could be wrong about other cities... which we have plenty of, and Melbourne makes Sydney look like Stephanie Meyer. (BURN!). We also have a lot of little towns, rural places - not everywhere is outback, or country. Canberra is the nation's capital, it's Hungry Jacks not Burger King, major supermarket chains are Woolworths/Safeway and Coles, summer actually starts in December.

Maybe I should write up an Australiana doco.

People just need to research. We also say Mum, it's much more frequent than anything else. We also say 'arse'... the word 'ass' (when used in the same context as arse) does NOT fit the Australian accent at all, I feel like I'm turning my mouth inside out trying to say it properly.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaass.

Nah. Arrrrse..

It's easier to play an American, because we get so much of the American culture through TV and Movies. America is always there to tap into, everywhere else seems to take too much research and people fall back on the stereotypes.

At least people try to play your culture -pout-

I'm kinda glad about that, because I'd get so annoyed with people trying to play Kiwis. Especially considering the number of people who have tried to tell me Kiwis are fruit DDDx

I am friends with Panda. NZ was colonised by mostly English people (I'm not from Akaroa so I'm not French). My family is mostly Australian.

So I don't have as much trouble playing British people as Americans do. I never say ass because ass is a horrible word. Mom is also. 'U' is a beautiful letter and having pancakes for breakfast is only when you go out to an all-day breakfast place or Maccas.

Hungry Jacks is Burger King, fool! Only with a cooler name.

I rarely think about culture and it's been so long since I've been to Aussie that I can't really think of anything else.

Oh. Except the footwear Americans mistakenly call flipflops and Kiwis mistakenly call jandals are actually thongs. Which brings me weird looks, because to a Kiwi a thong is a g-string xD

What do Brits call them? (The shoes.)

Actually, I think that my problem with playing an American would be mostly that I've never been to an American city and don't really know what they're like; TV programmes usually only show certain places (LA, Las Vegas, California, New York), and they only show a certain type of people. So I wouldn't know how someone who isn't rich and beautiful might live in... say, Montana. But I guess that I could just ask all the American roleplayers around for tips. : P

And yes, we English are clearly amazing. With our... er, rain and tea and scones and accents. (And as a note - although obviously everyone has an accent, it gets more complicated because not everyone speaks with the dialect of where they live. Like... I don't speak Geordie. And neither do my friends. So writing characters from places you don't know much about really is endlessly confusing, as they could be like almost anything.)

EDIT: We say flip-flops. I love flip-flops, actually. <3 Although not really for the name.

Chipping Sodbury for the win.

cos I know a character who calls it Sodding Chipbury.

I disagree, Mousie. I get away with being English all the time. But I was a huge anglophile as a child (I know, dorky).

Sydney has a lot of underground stations in the city. Redfern-Central-TownHall-Martin Place-Kings Cross (YES! We have a Kings Cross Station! Take that Melbourne! You may have culture but we have Potteresque places) and then there's this little outside bit before you get to Edgecliff and Bondi Junction.

Which reminds me, does anyone know if Kings Cross in England is full of prostitutes and junkies and nightclubs? Because that would be a funny parallel.

I'm English, from the Medway Towns (about an hour on the train outside of London, in the South-East).

I play, on my board, someone from Kent (with my accent, near enough), someone from Yorkshire, and someone from Hampshire.

Oh, and ass? Is 'donkey' - go check the Bible! 'He rode into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of an ass'. Otherwise, it's arse, but I say bum. And I call my mother 'mum' - though my Yorkshire character would say 'mam'.

But seriously, England isn't covered by London, and there are several places a character could come from that are nowhere near the place. How about Cheshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, the Midlands, Nottinghamshire... all of which have town and cities of various sizes that are just as interesting.

I think that those (generally American) RPers who play characters from 'London, California' are just showing their laziness. If they're online playing a game, they can get onto Google Maps, or similar, and actually research the place where their character comes from.

And that's my penn'orth!

RE: King's Cross -- No, it isn't... But it doesn't have anywhere nice to sit down and eat, just a WH Smith and some bagel-y takeaway place.

lol Sean. I know, Eastenders isn't too great but it was the best example I could come up with. :p lol.

I use the word 'ass' just because most people I rp with seem to be American and I do give up trying to use my britishisms sometimes. I still refuse to use the word mom or miss out the letter 'U' when writing and I make it a point to use my own language on a RP. But in speech on American forums I write how I think it should be and then ask whoever I am rping with to tell me what the correct term should be so I can correct it and no for later.
lol.

I don't think it is too hard to place an American person. With so many tv shows out there and loads of them US based, you catch on quickly. Whereas I don't think there are many Brit/Aussie/other places broadcasted. I have seen about 3 Aussie based things. There was a kids show on the other day: H20 which was apparently based in Australia and there are very few soaps/shows UK based in America as far as I can tell according to others.

The funniest thing that happened to me was when I joined a RP site set in England. I did not realise it at the time but it was run by an American girl who clearly loved the concept of our damp little Country but did not have the historical, cultural or geographical understanding to run a site that was based here. I joined and made my character.

In the space of a week I had no less than 20 private messages from the Admin telling me to edit my posts because I was spelling things incorrectly, like mum and such. I refused to do so as it was the way my character spoke and it was after all England. I was asked to leave the site because I did not understand England.

I am 22 years old, both of my parents are English, both of their parents parents were English and I can follow that back as far as 5 or 6 generations. I have always lived in England, in fact, I live right in the middle of England, I sound like a BBC Newsreader when I speak normally for goodness sake. Yet apparently, I am not English enough to play on her site.....

I'm just about to open my British boarding school roleplay (I'm Scottish, for the record, and I live in England - and my knowledge extends further than the St Clare's and Mallory Towers books :p). I've made non-British characters limited and no exchange students are allowed. Am I about to see hundreds of people from London who say 'mom'? Probably. But I'll get them told soon enough.

Also, the school is out either in the south east or south west, haven't decided yet. But I always think of boarding schools as being on the south coast somewhere xD

And I will be more than happy to be there and help Turk :lol:

Jessie decided it was time for a ramble because she is a culture junkie and has nothing better to do with her life. So sorry if some of this makes no sense, I've been replying as I go along.

Myself and my friends make them sometimes.. Partly because we're from Wales, and therefore we know what kind of locations there would be, and wouldn't really have the chance to mess up, I guess. My friend made a site and actually used pictures of our county in the graphics, I would never have thought to do that, because I thought we lived in a dump, but one time a guy came to our school from - wait for it - London, and he told us that we basically live in paradise. Because of all the mountains, I think.

We say Mam too xD Some people call their grandmothers "Mam" as well, which annoys me, because in my opinion it's a word for mother, but people call their grandmas it because it's also short for "Mamgu", which is welsh for Grandmother.

I did that, which a character that I've had since I was a newbie. I didn't do any research back then, but now I'm reviving him and thought I should.. And I found out that I was pronouncing his name completely incorrectly. I've also put him from the capital, but I didn't see the point in changing it now that I've had him there for two years. Well, actually he lived with his Aunty somewhere in England ((I never chose where)), but his parents lived in the capital.

When I make english characters I usually have them from Chester or Staffordshire, possibly Bristol. Because I have neighbours who moved to Bristol, and their son grew up there, so I have a rough idea of how Bristolians do speak, and such, because of what he told me. My brother's ex was from Chester, and my brother went to uni in Stafford. I feel a sort of connection to those places, I guess. xD

We have pancakes :) But we only ever eat them on Pancake Day, my mother makes picelets and welsh cakes for the rest of the year. Never for breakfast though, that's just always cereal or toast.

My ePal and I argue over which one of us has an accent xD It's a joke mainly though. I found it brilliantly that she said "Wewsh", and she got me to quote Gwen from Torchwood all the time, she especially found it funny when I said "Owen", because apparently I sounded exactly the same... Even though me and Eve Myles are from different parts in Wales.

My friend does! She wants to move there when she's older, because she thinks it's a beautiful place.

Loads of kids shows I liked were based in Australia. Sleepover Club, anyone? And two of those actresses moved to Neighbours xD I found that amusing.

A bit like John Barrowman being told he was too straight to play a gay character, and then hiring a straight guy. Still, if he had gotten that part then he probably wouldn't be in Torchwood :o And then what would be of the Innuendo Squad?!

This post is going to be ugly, with all the quotes, and I have gone off topic quite a few times, feel free to ignore those parts. I'm gonna post it though, because even though it's a crappy reply, I spent half an hour on it xD Half an hour I'll never get back! LMAO <3

I'm American so I honestly have only a slight idea about English culture and I suppose that if I traveled more I would be less provincial. I've only role-played on fantasy/medieval websites so I've never really seen someone attempt to role-play an English character. However, one of my college friends is absolutely positively obsessed with England. She dreams of marrying Prince William and wants to go study abroad at St. Andrew's because she thought she might seem him there. Unfortunately I'm going abroad before her and she's very mad at me since I'm going to the UK before her. I mean seriously what enthralls/attracts her so much? haha *hand in the air* I'm mostly a Frenchie but I have strong English roots. Her enthusiasm turns me off however. Blarg.

I was talking to someone about England once. I believe it was an American girl. I said where I lived and she had never heard of it, so I said that I am not that far away from London. She then told me that she had a friend in London and asked if I knew her. I mean, I know that our country is pretty small, especially when you compare to the likes of America, but the chances of me knowing one person? Pretty remote.

You need to break the bad news to your friend that Prince William is no longer at St Andrew's University (And that it is in Scotland, not England)

That made me laugh so much. XD If I'd have been drinking anything, my laptop would've exploded, because I would've spat it all out. <<

But that's happened to me before.

My dad says "mam" to my grandmother. I dunno why I didn't pick it up, but it's probably because my mum hates the word. xD She dislikes the accents around here, but it's where my dad's from, and where all of his family is. They say "bab-ee" instead of "babe-ee" for baby. And "wat-er" instead of "war-ter." I don't really have an accent that notes whereabouts I'm from in England.. cuz I didn't want to sound like I was from here. xD

muaha. ignore this. o.O

Oh, she knows. She just thought it would be "fate" that she might meet him at his old stomping grounds. haha Makes sense to her I guess... *sighs*

Bless.

I don't think Kate Middleton would be very happy about that though. Also, the last King that went of with an American woman lost the throne. hehe