Brit-pick
| Synonyms: | britpicking, brit-picked. |
| See also: | Beta, Yank-wank, Britpickery |
| Click here for articles related to this term on Fanlore. | |
(v. and n.) To proofread a work of fanfiction in order to ensure that British (or more widely, United Kingdom) characters and settings are accurately depicted, using correct language, spellings, slang and colloquialisms.
The term appeared in Harry Potter fandom around 2003, presumably because American and other cultures were not familiar with the British culture that the Wizarding world exists in.[1][2] For instance, an American might take his flashlight out to investigate the loud noise from the garbage cans in the backyard; a British character might take his torch out to investigate the loud noise from the dustbins in the back garden.
American and other non-British fans writing stories set in or characters native to the United Kingdom (e.g. some segments of bandom, LOTRPS, Doctor Who, etc.) sometimes put out a call for United Kingdom friends to help them with a spot of Brit-picking, in order to ensure the veracity of their characters' interactions, settings and speech.
The term has also led to "Ameri-pick", "Kiwi-pick", "medi-pick", etc. British writers in Stargate SG-1 fandom sometimes have the same problem in reverse, and need someone to check that their work uses USAmerican idioms rather than British ones.
Britpicking LJ communities: britpickery, dw_britglish, hp_britglish
- ↑ alt.fan.harry-potter Usenet news group posted April 29, 2003 (accessed 27-12-2009).
- ↑ League of Extraordinary Fanfiction betas list in the Internet Archive by 2005-06-15 but dated by Google as Nov 10, 2004, (accessed 2009-12-27)
