It has been over a year since I posted one of my stories to Nifty. So, I thought it was about time I submitted one of my short stories to try to gather more readers and support the site. Nifty may not be perfect, but it remains a valuable resource for the LGBTIQ+ community.
I know not everyone enjoys my stories, and I value constructive criticism, as I always want to improve my writing and make my stories more entertaining. I like to stretch myself (no, not in that way), I enjoy experimenting with new scenarios and fetishes. Sometimes these have not worked as they are outside my experience.
I also love language. I’m proud to be British, and I speak English very well (unfortunately, I speak very little Welsh). I like to think I write English pretty well, too. I also write unapologetically British English and do not translate to other variants of English. But I enjoy discovering the differences in the variants, especially slang, and I sometimes use the term ‘knob’. This is commonplace where I live and can either refer to the entire penis or the helmet. “Let me suck yer knob!”
I try not to use complex or difficult-to-understand language, so when I received the email below, I began to wonder. Has common usage changed, and does the term ‘forfeit’ no longer mean ‘a fine or penalty’? Or is my use of the term peculiar to the British, or old-fashioned? I’ve searched the Cambridge dictionary website, and it does list this meaning as ‘mainly UK’. I would appreciate your thoughts. Also, let me know if there are any other very British English terms I use that non-Brits find difficult to understand or jarring.
I may include a brief explanation of my usage of the term ‘forfeit’ at the beginning of the story. Perhaps I should add a disclaimer to all my stories that they are written in British English. Either way, rudeness is not an appropriate response.
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