Is it bad to mix UK/US English in a text?

[99bottles]

Someone told me I should choose one version of English and stick to it.

 

[5jj]

That someone was right.

 

[Tdol]

Stick to one, apart from quotations, where you should stick with the variant used in the source.

 

[99bottles]

That someone was right.

I checked my text, and I noticed that, generally, I happen to write in the BE variation. However, if I write knickers (which is what they call womens' underwear in BE), Americans might think I mean knickerbockers, which are underwear for men. Which is why, in this case, I think I should go with the AE panties to avoid confusion. So, is it wrong even to mix a little?

 

[SoothingDave]

Americans aren't going to think you mean underwear for men. For most Americans "the Knicks" are a basketball team and there is no use of the full word "knickerbocker" anywhere.

If you are really concerned about the choice of words, then just use what you started with: women's underwear.

 

[99bottles]

If you are really concerned about the choice of words, then just use what you started with: women's underwear.

But in that case, someone might think I'm talking about bras.

 

[5jj]

If every writer in English worried about how some speakers of other varieties of English might misunderstand some words, nothing would ever get written.

 

[Skrej]

But in that case, someone might think I'm talking about bras.

With no other context, 'underwear' would most likely be understood to refer to what you wear around your waist. It's not exclusive to women's wear, either.

It serves as both a generic term for all undergarments, but is also used as a synonym for both things like 'panties', 'boxers', 'briefs', etc.

 

[99bottles]

That someone was right.

PROBLEM! First of all, a little update. As I said earlier, I checked my text and noticed that most of my words are written in BE, so I decided to go with that variation. However, today, I remembered that the title of one of the books I'm editing has the word realize (the AE variation) in it. So now I don't know what to do, since it is not possible to change the title on Amazon, unless you unpublish and republish the book, which is a hell of trouble (moreover, I will also have to remake the cover, since the title is on it as well!) The possible solutions I can think of are (tell me which one you suggest)...
1. Unpublish and republish (brr!)
2. Replace all realize with realise in the manuscript and leave just the realize in the title.
3. Reconsider my decision to use BE and use AE instead.
4. Keep using BE and, as an exception, in this specific book, leave all realize as realize, both in the title and in the manuscript.

 

[jutfrank]

1. Unpublish
2. Pay someone to proofread all the errors that you've made, including the ones you have no idea that you've made.
3. Republish

 

[5jj]

Realize is less common than realise in BrE, but it's perfectly acceptable. It's the version preferred by the Oxford stable of dictionaries.

 

[5jj]

2. Pay someone to proofread all the errors that you've made, including the ones you have no idea that you've made.

Right.

If you are editing your own words, 99, there will be mistakes on every page. That would be so even if you were a native speaker.

 

[99bottles]

2. Pay someone to proofread all the errors that you've made, including the ones you have no idea that you've made.

Thanks, but you forgot to tell me where the tree that grows money is located.

 

[5jj]

It certainly doesn't grow from sales of books that contain many slips.

 

[Tdol]

It certainly doesn't grow from sales of books that contain many slips.

Are you back on underwear?

 

[99bottles]

Are you back on underwear?

What do you mean by back on underwear?

 

[Tarheel]

He's talking about many slips.

 

[Skrej]

Are you back on underwear?

Probably just gin, I reckon. The bigger question is whether or not he's back in underwear.

 

[Tdol]

Unseeing the unseeable.

 

[amelardiani]

I think most people would recommend you stick to one style or the other. Why? Well, it doesn't matter too much, but if you mix styles the reader might notice! And that's bad—if they're noticing stuff like that, then they're paying attention to how you're writing rather than what you're writing.

In other words, you're distracting the reader. You probably don't want that. You want them to focus on what you have to say, right? So unless you have a specific reason to mix styles, just stick to whichever style seems appropriate.