As an American who writes mostly in UK fandoms, these are the ones I find myself having to consciously look out for:
1) "Very" alternates Brits don't use "really" as much as Americans do. Instead, "rather" and "quite" are more common
2) "Got hold of" (UK) Follows your "got" rule, but the whole phrase is used a lot
3) "Ring" or "Rang" (UK) instead of "Call" or "Called" (US)
4) "Right" (UK) instead of "OK" (US) I don't mean that Brits don't use OK at all, but when Americans use OK as a sort of conversational clearing of the throat, Brits are more likely to use "Right". As in, "Right. Moving on." where an American would say "OK. Moving on."
5) Common UK slang terms (other than the obvious bloody, bugger, wanker etc) "Knob" -- John definitely calls Sherlock this at least once a week "Balls' up" -- A fuck up, but less rude than the American version "In there" -- have a chance at sex, as in "I'm definitely in there" "Fit" -- hot "Innit" -- Isn't it, but used at the end of sentences where an American would say "right?" and often used ironically by upper class speakers as it's associated with lower-class speech. "Bloke" -- used where Americans would use "guy", as in "he's a good bloke"
6) Cultural things appropriate to the character For ex., most UK men are likely to be fans of "Top Gear" and so references from that show are likely, e.g. "Cock." "The best/worst XXXX in ... the ... world." And younger characters might use a lot of TOWIE slang such as "well jel" or "reem", but John wouldn't.
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Date: 1/13/13 08:54 pm (UTC)1) "Very" alternates
Brits don't use "really" as much as Americans do. Instead, "rather" and "quite" are more common
2) "Got hold of" (UK)
Follows your "got" rule, but the whole phrase is used a lot
3) "Ring" or "Rang" (UK) instead of "Call" or "Called" (US)
4) "Right" (UK) instead of "OK" (US)
I don't mean that Brits don't use OK at all, but when Americans use OK as a sort of conversational clearing of the throat, Brits are more likely to use "Right". As in, "Right. Moving on." where an American would say "OK. Moving on."
5) Common UK slang terms (other than the obvious bloody, bugger, wanker etc)
"Knob" -- John definitely calls Sherlock this at least once a week
"Balls' up" -- A fuck up, but less rude than the American version
"In there" -- have a chance at sex, as in "I'm definitely in there"
"Fit" -- hot
"Innit" -- Isn't it, but used at the end of sentences where an American would say "right?" and often used ironically by upper class speakers as it's associated with lower-class speech.
"Bloke" -- used where Americans would use "guy", as in "he's a good bloke"
6) Cultural things appropriate to the character
For ex., most UK men are likely to be fans of "Top Gear" and so references from that show are likely, e.g. "Cock." "The best/worst XXXX in ... the ... world." And younger characters might use a lot of TOWIE slang such as "well jel" or "reem", but John wouldn't.