The sins of the pasticher

[flemmings]

I will say this for Donald Thomas-- unlike other American authors of Holmes pastiche, he doesn't make his main characters American, or half-American as the case may be; he doesn't make his English characters naturally think in terms of Edgar Allen Poe and naturally reference American slang; and he doesn't make an English character say 'He hung himself' when any English person, then or now, would say 'hanged.' A pity he's not as entertaining as the other writers, but still. He doesn't commit that beginner's fanfic error, writing what one knows: so that Dorian Red Gloria and Heero Yui alike must visit Oklahoma City, and Holmes must visit San Francisco, because the author wants to see the beloved character in the streets of her home town.

Comments

[incandescens]

My mother had strong feelings on hung/hanged: as she would tell me whenever I got it wrong, "People are hanged, game is hung."

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Your mother is of a genteel generation. Well, it's mine too, but I am less genteel about the usage of 'hung.'