British English vocab question

Sorry for this ridiculous question, but I need a quick answer!

Is BE 'a fancy dress party' exactly equal to AE 'a costume party'?

Many thanks in advance!

Yes! Dress up!

It sure is!    Fancy-dress parties can sometimes have a theme of some description, such as Olde Worlde England, or Historical Characters, but they can also be completely open, where people turn up dressed as anything from Little Bo Peep to Dick Turpin.

Thanks! I knew I'd get quick answers here.   

I remember that threw me the first time I heard it. I envisioned everyone in tuxes and gowns!

I remember that threw me the first time I heard it. I envisioned everyone in tuxes and gowns!

Yes! I'm Americanizing a book and the characters are going to a 'fancy dress party'. So I was shocked to read a few lines down that the characters were going as a turtle and a hen. 

I thought, "WTF is going on here!?" 

I remember that threw me the first time I heard it. I envisioned everyone in tuxes and gowns!

That's what I would have understood, too! Huh! So what's *that* called then?

'Black tie'.


Vicky

I'm Americanizing a book

Why is it that American books don't get "Briticised"? Or do they?

I would imagine that many books by US authors get the reverse treatment.  It probably depends on the publishers, and whether or not they think that the vocab would travel.

Vicky

I know I've read some books that have been 'Briticised'. The editor (not Sevans, of course  ) will typically miss one or two things that give away the fact that it used to be written in American english!

'Black tie'.


Vicky

Oh ok! So the same as here... lol Thanks, Vicky!

Why is it that American books don't get "Briticised"? Or do they?

That's a good question. I don't know if it happens in my field at all.

I edit educational books/material for the world market, and there's a definite split between countries and regions that prefer British English, and those that prefer American English.

The material I work on all tends to be published in the UK, whether it's going to a BE or AE market. In fact, I once had a situation where the author was American - but after the manuscript went through all the proof stages in the UK, the book needed to be Americanized again!

I've never heard of a 'Briticiser', though.

Why is it that American books don't get "Briticised"? Or do they?

Do you remember how Foulsham-Tab used to address the issue?

Back in the 1970s Tab Books was a fairly small technical publisher, based in Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.   The W. Foulsham Co. in England bought the rights to publish the books in the U.K. and their conversion process consisted of taking the original "innards" of the book as printed in the U.S., adding an extra section to the front titled "A specially written chapter for the guidance of the English reader," and then rebinding it all in their own covers. 

The covers usually reproduced the original American artwork but just changed the address details on the back, showed a Sterling cover price, etc.   Sometimes they'd alter the title slightly for spelling or terminology. 

The "specially written chapter" was just a few pages which explained differences in basic terminology which would be found in the rest of the book, suggested alternate sources for components where U.S. suppliers had been quoted in the main text, and so on.

I think it's embarassing when they Americanize a novel. Like we're so stupid that we won't understand what a British word means. They did that with the first Harry Potter book. They used sorcerer rather than philosopher in America because they didn't think we'd know what a philosopher is.