What can I use for a 16yr old to say in 1976 instead of 'fag ash'? My US copy editor, most understandably, has queried it on the grounds that it might be misunderstood…

You'll be pleased to know that though she/he politely queried them too, I'm holding out for 'dual carriageway' instead of 'highway' and 'boot' instead of 'trunk'.

Emma

Ciggie ash? 'Ciggie' used to be a common slang word, but you don't hear it so much now.

Tab ash was common in the north east - probably still is.

Dee

Tricky one. I'd have said that 'fag ash' is really the only way I've ever heard it described when in an informal conversation. More formally (especially from a non-smoker) I think it'd probably resolve to 'cigarette ash'.

Without seeing it in context, I'd have thought it'd be hard to misinterpret the meaning in a 'normal' sentence. Could the meaning be made more obvious by re-writing the relevant passage?

What do US writers do when they want to describe fag-ash?

Jon

This is insane, unless in the same scene the ashtray containing the fag ash is sitting on the mantlepiece, right next to the pink urn that contains the ramains of Camp Harry, the flamboyant uncle who died in a recent 78 hour disco-thon.

Colin

I've heard americans call cigarettes cigs so you could just use cig ash. Tobacco ash? Stub ash?

There are loads of euphemisms for cigarettes; cancer sticks, stink weeds, coffin nails, death sticks. Maybe you could rework the sentence.

More creative ones could be cancer dust, death pollen.

Freeway beats both highway and dual carriageway.

Geoff

[quote]the pink urn that contains the ramains of Camp Harry

Or Camp David, which may be more appropriate for the US market

J

right next to the pink urn that contains the ramains of Camp Harry, the flamboyant uncle who died in a recent 78 hour disco-thon.

Much more fun than what it really is. I think the meaning would be clear, but you don't really even want a reader stumbling enough to have to work it out.
Thought of 'butts' but that's another one with a different US meaning...

I love tab-ash, but she's a Londoner. Ciggies would be fine, but sounds odd with 'ash', somehow. May just settle for 'ash'...

Anyway, thank you everyone for the help.

Emma

Emma,

Is this for the American version of The Mathematics of Love?

Geoff

Tab ash is common up here, but in real terms, we're more likely to just say "ash" - ie, "divvent drop yer ash owa heer"

Yes. They've been very respectful on the whole, but it's surprising how many little differences there are: towards/forwards/backwards/afterwards have all been shorn of their s's, then there's airplane and dollhouse, too.

And then there's the little matter that neither narrator has standard punctuation... I'll be dreaming of commas for weeks.

Emma

<Added>

Sorry, that was aimed at Geoff. I think I'm going to stick to 'ash' probably.

Reached page 466 of 603, for the first pass. Then we're down to the really knotty ones.

Emma

While the names for cigarettes themselves varied around the country - fags, ciggies, etc. - I can't remember anybody referring to anything except 'cigarette ash' or more usually just 'ash'. I'd have thought 'ash' would normally be clear from the context.

Chris

Ash from her cigarette?

Didn't a lot of Americans refer to them as 'smokes' around that time?

Nik.

I've always wondered about these things.

You seem to have gotten away with it lightly I've seen books where whole passages and chapters seem to have been changed.

I've often used the search inside feature on amazon.com to compare books I've read, with some very surprising results.

Often it seems to be the case that an american version includes a lot more explanation and passages are often dumbed down.

number9dream by David Mitchell for instance looks likes it's been rewritten by a fourteen year old who's trying to pass it off as his own work for a homework assignment.

Geoff

603 pages? What's the word count? - I'm guessing at 180,000