#britpiqueued

Hello! Here is an introduction to the Good Omens Britpicking Library, created by ineffabildaddy. The project will also have contributions from other Good Omens fans. 

Project Purpose

The purpose of this project is:

To create an easily-accessible, updateable resource with useful britpicking information for Good Omens fic writers and fanartists

To run a blog, which will be used to A) update people on the resource and B) answer simple, straightforward questions which have not yet or will not be answered by the resource (questions whose answers can be found via the resource will be responded to with a link and directions towards the right section of it). While the resource is not yet available, you can ask questions whose answers are likely to appear in it!

To provide a list of britpickers who are open to being contacted by writers about helping out with fics and/or fanart.

The purpose of this project is not:

To carry out research on behalf of fic writers or fanartists. The contributors of the project will be sharing information they already know. Britpicking is the practice of adjusting an existing work to become as accurate as possible to the UK, not providing any and all information folks may need to know about the UK and its history

To cover subjects in depth that are not common knowledge for the average UK resident (e.g. a particular historical time period, how a particular government-run system works), unless a contributor comes on board who is already proficient in that subject. We will make callouts for experts if the demand is high enough for a particular subject

To signpost to existing britpicking resources that were made for other fandoms, or general use. We may signpost to general information resources which were not created specifically for britpicking, but that is not the primary purpose of this project.

Contributing To This Project

We are looking for contributors who currently live in the UK, or have lived in the UK for at least a year within the last ten years - you do not need to be from here originally to contribute! 

At the moment, we would be very grateful to receive contributions from:

People who drive in London regularly

People who drive outside London regularly

People who work in the NHS, or have worked in the NHS within the last decade

People who live in/near the South Downs, or have visited the South Downs often enough to have a good handle on geography and life there

People who own or have owned a home in London within the last twenty years

Even if none of these things are in your realm of expertise but you are a current or ex UK resident, you are welcome to get involved!

If you would like to contribute, please message samrv999 (that’s ineffabildaddy!) on Discord expressing your interest.  We will not ask you to reveal any personal information you are not comfortable with, but contributions cannot be made anonymously.

Following This Project

If you would like to follow this project, please feel free to follow this blog and turn on post notifications. Posts will be made up to three times a day (not consistently every day at the moment) between 7pm and 11pm GMT.

Submitting Asks To The Blog

The goodomensbritpickinglibrary blog will answer short, straightforward britpicking questions if the answer is known. More complex britpicking questions that either cannot be answered within a few sentences, are not common knowledge, or both, should be submitted via a form that will soon be published and linked here. We will then consider adding the subject of the question to the resource.

A few examples of questions we will answer on this blog could be:

How long does it take approximately to drive from Mayfair to about where Tadfield would be in Oxfordshire?

What spelling of [insert word here] is used in the UK?

What are the most vegan-friendly restaurants in Soho?

Asks are open, so feel free to submit a question anytime! 

Questions?

Please comment on this post if you have any questions about the project, and the answer will either be made in a responding comment or in an addition to the post’s body (please be aware that the answer may be "we don't know yet"!).

I have a question - I've heard that in some contexts, "tea" can actually mean dinner? How do you know if the person you're talking to is inviting you over for afternoon tea or dinner?

(Also, while I'm at it - is there a difference between supper and dinner?)

hi! thank you for sending in a question!

this is a dialect thing as far as i understand it! people from the midlands and the north who don't come from money are likely to say 'tea' instead of dinner (though i'm sure there are some posher people from those areas who would too!). for example, my dad's family is from birmingham and they all say tea to mean the evening meal.

in terms of how you know whether someone's inviting you to afternoon tea or dinner, i think there are two ways:

A) who's saying it (see above), and

B) what time of day they're saying it at

someone who's inviting you over for 'afternoon tea' might be more likely to ask you to come over 'for a cuppa/a cup of tea', 'an afternoon snack' or similar. it's quite old-fashioned to merely ask someone over simply 'for tea' meaning afternoon tea, but not unheard of.

if someone's asking you over for tea and they could feasibly mean either (i.e. they're from the typical region and class of those who say tea instead of dinner) i'd go based on time of day and further context around the interaction. if they're asking you at 3pm, they might mean tea and biscuits, but if they're asking you around evening time they'd more likely mean the evening meal.

supper and dinner do mean the same thing, but in my view, 'supper' is the more old-fashioned of the two, and not as commonly used as it once was. i can definitely see aziraphale saying 'supper'!

hi! thank you for the question!

‘trash’ and ‘garbage’ are not commonly used. we would simply say ‘there are piles of rubbish everywhere’ or ‘that rubbish stinks’ (or probably use a rude word instead lol)

i would say that ‘trash’ has made it into our speech due to phrases like ‘trash tv’, ‘men are trash’ etc but for physical waste we don’t generally use that word!

thank you for the question!