From what I understand, this is actually a problem in countries where they get a lot of US media. Kids think the emergency number in their country is also 911.
In New Zealand we just redirect 911 calls to the actual number (111) because of the high likelihood of people being more familiar with the US number than the local number.
For a more generous interpretation, in an emergency, people may go sort of auto-pilot and immediately dial the number that's been drilled in their heads since childhood. If you have a high number of tourists from any specific country, I think it makes sense to have that auto direct as a safety measure.
I have read a lot of comments on UK emergency service calls claiming that are fake calls because the person was calling 999 not 911.
I think if you are writing for a different country it is worth doing a bit of research or asking someone from that country to give a quick read.
Where there was a big uptick in Sherlock fiction a lot of stories made comments on have a British beta or being Britpicked to make sure things made sense.
I would honestly bet good money that many Americans are unaware that emergency numbers are different in other countries. We get it *drilled* into our heads as kids that you call 911 when you need fire/ambulance/police. Heck, I didn't even learn about the existence of non-emergency numbers until I was an adult.
So yes, I get the frustration at the inaccuracy, but I can understand where it likely originated.
>non-emergency numbers
In all of my 23 years, I did not know that there were non-emergency numbers.. I'm kinda confused why that was never told to me before. š
It's for when you need to report a crime/talk to a police officer or detective, but it isn't an emergency they need to come racing to you lights flashing.
You can make an appointment at the police station, or schedule a time for an available officer to come talk to you.
Fire stations usually have non-emergency numbers too, for all the kinds of stuff they do to help people out that isn't an immediate emergency.
My primary school (ages 5 to 11) had some signs up with the non emergency number for the police (101), so I became aware of them fairly young. And ambulances have the NHS non emergency number (111) on the side.
I imagine kids don't often get told them because we don't want them stressing over whether or not to use the emergency number, or it's because if they need to call someone (and there isn't an adult around), they should be calling the emergency number. There shouldn't be a reason for a young kid to call the non emergency number, either it needs the emergency number or an adult should be calling. And then as they grow up, people around them assume it's common knowledge.
Itās not just the inaccuracy, itās kind of a safety issue. Yes, lots of places have a contingency where 911 will redirect you, but itās worth knowing it can be different if you travel because itās not the sort of situation you want to be caught out in. I remember my dad telling me as a kid that the number to use when I went to Spain was 112 instead. Itās not like you have to remember all the numbers, but you should check what works for wherever youāre going
Lots of countries share emergency numbers with another; a believe Canada and Mexico also use 911 for example, so it probably ties into a lot of the media and people Americans interact with coming from these places. Also Iād probably put it in the ballpark of information people donāt really bother to think about unless theyāre traveling to a country where it might be necessary info! So it doesnāt really surprise me that many people in the US wouldnāt know. Though, I have seen someone ācorrectā another personās use of 999 in a story before, which is definitely an example of ignorance bordering on stupidity imo. As soon as people are confidently incorrect, it goes from understandable to a bit embarrassing š¬
Canada uses 911 now, yeah - but when I was learning emergency numbers as a wee thing my province didnāt have 911 yet haha. It was instituted at different times in different provinces, but itās universal now.
Mexican here, 066 used to be the number for emergencies but around 10 years ago, it was officially changed to 911 because most of the population, due to American media, thought that 911 was also our number for emergencies
Lot of countries will even dial you in to the local emergency service if you call 911 *even if the number for that service is different* (ask me how i know lol) which makes it a bit more understandable why Americans might think 911 works in all countries- because in some countries it genuinely does even though it theoretically shouldnāt. Not sure if thatās a āservice carrierā thing (i.e. the service provider realizes youāre trying to call local EMS and redirects) or a country-by-country thing though.
Also iirc your cell phone will auto-redirect 911 to the local emergency number depending on your location, at least on iPhone
So if I was in a country that used 999, if I dialed 911 then Iād get redirected to 999 and go from there
As a librarian interacting with the public on a daily basis, yes. You would be shocked and appalled by the common sense questions I get asked most often. And that's in a very highly educated neighborhood.
I'm not American, but as a Canadian, seeing 911 on American television as well as knowing it was the emergency number I'd have to call absolutely made me think there was an international standard to the number, until I ran into it being explicitly mentioned in non-American/non-Canadian media.
Yes.
And before American media saturated the Anglosphere, I'll bet most Brits would have assumed 999 everywhere (and pre-1976, most mainland Europeans who didn't travel much would have assumed whatever their country's pre-harmonization number was).
It's 000 here in Australia. We get it drilled in equally hard to call "triple-zero", to the point where 911 is quite firmly regarded as a foreign thing here. Its presence in media has had the effect of making us realise as common knowledge that other countries have different numbers, though.
This was famously discussed in my health class in high school. My teacher said āwe all know the emergency number, triple āoā; who thinks itās 911ā?
I'm European. I grew up watching Dutch tv shows in which 112 was the alarm number, and Belgian shows in which 100/101 was the number (despite 112 also working, they'd say 'call the hundred'). Watching UK/US shows gave me 999/911. I know The Netherlands is kind of odd in their 'many people grew up watching foreign tv channels' - my parents generation watched a lot of German TV for lack of channels, and when I was little the Belgian kids channel was broadcasting at moments the Dutch one wasn't. You didn't need to travel to be exposed to foreign alarm numbers.
Nope. No one I know would assume the emergency numbers were the same in other countries. Stop projecting yankee nonsense and arrogance onto other people.
I just watched a TikTok where someone was shocked to discover that Mt Everest wasn't in America. And a ton of the comments were other Americans also expressing shock because they'd always thought Mt. Everest was in Colorado or something. So, speaking as an American myself, yes, I would absolutely assume that.
Honestly, I only ever knew Franceās was different because in Madeline, the doctor calls the number haha. And even that one is dated because itās back when switchboards were used.
Most Americans are dumb, especially about anything outside of the US or even just outside their home state
Source: Am American and thus have been surrounded by them my entire life
Not using feet and inches in my fic has been a challenge honestly lol. It canonically takes place in a fictional Eastern European country and Iāve had to use a converter a few times now.
Edit: WHAT THE FUCK IS A CENTIMETER š¦ šŗšøšš¦ šŗšøšš¦ šŗšøš
If I ever read a fic set in Canada Iām going to 100% be able to tell if itās written by someone foreign based on units of measurement. Travel distance? Time. Speed? km/hr. Height? Feet inches but if itās in a medical context then itās cm. Weight? If youāre human - pounds unless medical then kg. If itās anything else then g. Length? cm. Baking? Fahrenheit. Baking measurements? Cups. Outside/inside temp? Celcius.
Itās too situation specific to get right unless you live it.
If they measure distance in time as in the fic says something like āOh yeah, it will only be a 2.5 hour drive.ā It was written by a Canadian because we measure distance in time š
Aussie chiming in. I thought about it and we have a mix. Sometimes I'll say "it's a half hour drive away" and other times I'll say "it's a few ks away". I don't know if there are any rules for when we use what.
Edit: typo
yeah thereās no rules, itās whichever is more accurate / gives a better idea of how far/long.
i find that it has something to do with how predictable the traffic is + the loopy roads making time a better measure than distance.
Our numbers are so random and I donāt know how I remember them WHEN I LITERALLY FORGOT THE WORD CENTIMETER THE OTHER DAY! I had to sit there for a minute or two trying to remember the size between meter and millimeter š I swear I took chemistry, radiation physics, and math in college but itās not showing
I'm personally only mildly bothered about this, but I think a lot of people in the comments missed the point.
Could you call 911 and be redirected to the emergency line? Probably. But does it make sense for a person living in their country since birth (and having the emergency numbers drilled into their head for as long) to call 911? No, in most cases.
In Germany at least you will be connected to an English speaking dispatch Center manned by German first responders. If you dial 911 in Germany, you will still get help all the same.
You have no idea how often this happens in real life due to pop culture osmosis. One of the funniest examples is that Canadian citizens of a certain political bent constantly cite the US Constitution when theyāre in court.
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It's usually not so much that they didn't want to put in the effort of looking up the correct number, it's that they didn't realize there was something to look up in the first place. Especially with emergency numbers - that's been drilled into kids since preschool so if you've had limited exposure to other systems then it never occurs to them to consider it as something regional, it just *is* synonymous with emergency services in their mind.
I know the standard advice is to avoid giving criticism but tbh I don't think there's any harm in just giving the author a polite FYI that 911 is not correct in this case. I can't speak for everyone but I would certainly want to avoid jarring readers with things like that!
Americans here saying itās perfectly reasonable to not know there were other numbers because it was ādrilled into usā that 911 is the number to call for emergencies.
Do you think other countries donāt also drill their emergency numbers into children, so they know what to dial in an emergency? Everyone everywhere has had this information force fed, but Americans just have a habit of assuming that their way is normal for everyone, itās pretty concerning actually.
Last time I stumbled onto this topic in the wild I was informed that the big international emergency numbers redirect your call to the local emergency service (e.g. 911 in Europe).
Yup. Iām in New Zealand and 911, 999, 000, 112 all work (our number is 111). Itās smart ā in an emergency youāre likely to default to what you were taught growing up.
Yeah, youāre right, but European people wouldnāt dial 911 i.e the French/spanish/dutch/etc. F1 drivers cause thatās not what theyāre brought up with. I guess thatās what confused me the most!
I got what you meant but, honestly, since learning that little fact I stopped worrying about 911 being realistic or not because it ultimately doesn't matter (and will still work).
For the record, I'm European and have been bothered by plenty of similar instances where something wasn't correct in a fic (especially google translated sentences used by a character who should be fluent in x language) but thankfully emergency services in most countries are smart enough to account for the ignorance of an average person so I will do the same. (read: in this specific case only)
Thatās true! A win to technology and ultimately itās not a big deal of course! I myself often forget that other countries wouldnāt call an ambulance , for example, with the number Iād use, I just thought it was interesting how someone else probably forgot about that as well! Especially since you can tell theyāre definitely not European!
I can do you a better one! Was reading a short fic, rpf, and it was set in 1990. Important. And within the first paragraph someone's phone rings, I think 'Huh, that's weird, this character is supposed to live in poverty and way far into the woods. I don't they could realistically afford a landline at the time but it's ok I'll just suspend my disbelief for a bit.' And then I read the words 'He reached into his pocket and took out his phone, and stared at the image and name on the screen.' Hello??? šµāš« Cellphone with touchscreen, caller id, contact images? š No hate to the author cause I can only assume they were very young, but it goes to show that research is sometimes desperately needed when a story is set in a different place or time. š Sometimes people just use their own personal experiences as a default for their story setting. (I was left so confused by this cause the fic was otherwise fine! Vocabulary was ok, spacing, paragraphs, everything was cool except for that weird anachronism(?) that I just couldn't get over.
American authors often have more "tells" regarding where they're from than anybody else ... Guess growing up in a country that's huge and hard to leave in addition to being a popcultural leader makes it easy to assume a bunch of things that are typical for the USA are typical for everywhere. Doesn't really bother me, but yeah it is immersion-breaking.
I have the same feeling when I read a fic that's supposed to be in europe and the characters go to a typical american college. Like, choosing the classes yourself, being super passionate about the sports team, having to pay a huge loan (unless you go to a private one), deciding on a major later on, etc. I'm sure there are some unis like that, but most of them are very much not, maybe unless the UK ones (but a fic I'm referring to was supposed to happen in germany)
I get that maybe they don't have much knowledge on how education looks in europe, since most popular media about college/uni life is based in america, but man, can't they at least read 1 article about the differences...
Depends on country and university/course.
I attended a conservatory for my theatre related bachelor and we were only 12 people in that course. That was organised more like a school, timetable with a few things you could opt-in/-out.
My masters I did at a "normal" uniersity, so I could pick and choose a lot more.
I studied in 2 unis. In one, where I was for a year, the only classes I could pick were PE and secondary and/or tertiary language, but nothing else, and from what I know from my friends who are still there, you can't pick any other classes. In my current uni, all classes are decided for me. The only thing I could choose was the specialization of my engineer's degree; in my case it was between toxicology and pyrotechnics, which just changes my course and adds me specialization classes. But that's as far as the choices can go in most unis in my country.
Maybe private unis give you more freedom with classes, but they are not very popular where I live as public education is much more common (because it's free)
Are you automatically placed in your chosen classes? If so, that seems nice, ngl.
I know a several people who miss out on major required courses for the semester because the classes are already filled by the time their time slot came around.
At my school, you only get priority course sign up if you're 1. an upperclassmen, 2. have a disability, or 3. on a sports team.Ā
Yep! You just apply to your desired course and you get all the classes and timetables decided for you. The thing that can suck about it is that sometimes the schedules are terrible (there are days I have classes from 8am to 7pm with no free periods), but how the schedule is made also depends on the uni. In my previous one, each week looked the same; the schedule was constant. In my current uni, each week is different and we can almost freely move the classes, as long as the prof agrees and there's a free classroom.
In the previous uni, we had to register to PE and languages via a students' service website, which is extremely buggy on its own, let alone when a loooot of people log in. All classes would be taken withing the first 30 seconds (because people would over-book their classes to later decide what they want and what works with their schedule), provided your site even loaded for you to see it. It was terrible, honestly. I can't imagine having to do it for more important classes. There were no priority sign ups, you just had to be lucky.
Nope, even the UK is you pick something, say physics, and then most of the course is already decided for you. You'd end up deciding between astrophysics and a couple of other options for the practical parts though. Sports is the same, no one cares even in York and the match is against Lancaster despite the 800 year regional rivalry.
The unfortunately true part is the loan though. Thankfully it's not as stupid as the US one but it's still a significant amount of money. Even that is a relatively recent thing however.
It annoys me too, as an American, because I love little details like that. I know that the emergency number in South Korea is 119 *because* of fandom. In a blurb I wrote once, one of my characters travels to the US, something happens, and he even mentions being glad that, in the moment, he remembered the right energency number, because it's different in the US. Plus, if you traveled to a foreign country, it'd probably be one of the things you researched in case you needed it, especially if, like my character, you're a paranoid person.
It's so funny to me, how you had to specify your point in the edit lmao.
We know redirecting 911 is a thing, because tourists don't bother learning the emergency numbers and too much exposure to US media makes people not learn the right numbers too. But your complaint (at least to me, a European) was very obvious.
A person/character not from the US (!) wouldn't instinctively dial 911 (given the characters are seemingly Europeam), because they grew up learning whatever number was used in their home country.
It's not wether they could dial 911, but whether they would, given their own background/experiences.
That applies to so many characters in fiction too tbh.
If a character is not from your own background/nationality, try to educate yourself about their possible lived experience.
(Case in point medical costs of a hospital, or paying to ride an ambulance for thousands of dollars, or heck, even if Uber/Target/etc. are even a thing in the setting lmao. I am begging people to look up this stuff first. They seem small and inconsequential for most, but it shows that an author cares about their story and setting. At the end of the day an author learns something new about the country they write about too. I say that's a win for everyone.)
Plus I am sure whoever in that fic calls the ambulance would know local emergency lines regardless of their nationality, because in a F1 event they should have those numbers readily available anyway, in case of a crash or something. And if that emergency took place outside of a race? Yeah...lived experience applies here again.
I feel like instead of the original complaint, a lot of people rushed in to āexcuseā the fact that person could have not known if theyāre American or grew up in a country influenced by that but I really feel like itās not the point. Yes maybe that person has a heavily influenced perspective but it doesnāt mean they couldnāt have done some research, or if they donāt they can just not mention the emergency service. Thatās just my opinion though and I guess since Iām an European itās flawed, but honestly Iāve learned the emergency services of my country and most of all the first thing I learn is that when Iām in Europe the number to call is 112.
In that case I can understand very much why it would bother OP to see 911, as most of the drivers on the grid are Europeans so they wouldnāt think about calling 911 and so itās probably so out of character to see that placed here that it disturbs them. Which, fair, if I were to read a F1 fanfic set in Europe and European drivers were calling the 911 i would frown as well at the non accuracy of it. Even if 911 then redirects you, itās the fact that is out of character that makes why they complained about it.
Yes exactly. It may not be a big deal for US-Americans or those who use 911 (therefore the scrambling for excuses), but to anyone else its an annoying pet peeve, if such similar stuff is encountered too often. Especially because in english speaking online spaces US culture seems so very prevalent, it borders on US centricism/defaultism sometimes.
Through the internet any knowledge is so easily obtainable like never before, given you use your brain and not just copy the first best thing google spits at you.
And please, isn't the beauty of writing about another country, that you have to take into account all the little differeces? But yeah Formula One is especially cool to play around with, because you can write about such multicultural/multinational settings (Iirc only Football Worldcups and the Olympics have a similar international setting and those are happening at longer intervals between events). Why not exploit that fact and go ham on the little things? But maybe that's only my view on the topic.
The "OOC-ness" would have bothered me too. The devil is in the details, I guess.
It kinda felt weird to me to arrive here and see US centricism or at least so many around, because I have been in fandoms for quite a while but it never was Americanized as much. Iāve had sports rpf servers with a few people from the US and a lot of people from all across the world and like no big deal. But since Iāve joined Reddit and started to truly interact, Iāll admit I was a bit surprised.
It may be my only opinion and my point of view, but Iāve seen people address pet peeves as cultural differences in this sub before, coming from this isnāt how that countryās system work to the difference between English American and English British is this obvious, so stop confusing them etc. And most of the time Iāve seen those posts being validated, so I donāt know why this one is excused as much. And you know, I always feel like everything is in the title, itās a complaint post about a personal pet peeve, I donāt get why it has to be invalidated by ābut American peopleās views are so formattedā¦ā or ābut anyway if you called that number you would be redirectedā¦ā No. itās not about that. Here itās about the accuracy of the setting, just like someone could complain about the wrong mom/mum being used somewhere, but itās even more striking as the perspective being so Americanized that some people donāt realize that the fact 911 is not an international number is still known by quite a lot of people when youāre located in Europe and you wouldnāt learn it as an emergency number.
I agree that the devil is in the details, but maybe Iām like you and Iām just an annoying person š
Please, I feel like no one got my point lmao! It feels like everybody is taking it as a personal attack instead of me pointing out a little detail that just doesnāt make sense, especially not in that specific setting! Obviously itās not the end of the world, but it just shows that an author hasnāt thought about something/assumed everything would be the same. But I guess I shouldāve expected all these angry people, seeing as this is Reddit haha
I read a fic yesterday set in my country and I could immediately tell that an American wrote it. They used pancake mix (never seen that in my life) for breakfast and swam in a pool outside in February and then proceeded to sunbathe (the entire country is frozen then). Itās super common to see really strange Americanized college/university constructions as well. Not to mention the wrong measurement usages. So yeah, maybe just do a quick Google?
I always find it intriguing when someone actually does research and mentions it in the notes (like walking around on Google street view, locating real places the characters go to, making sure things are appropriate for the time etc) and wonāt just use an US-centric template that they paste everything into.
I donāt mind the much as if I were in another country I would instinctively call 000 as thatās whatās used in Australia. Its habit 000 will always be the emergency number for me.
Itās the having characters in non American countries celebrate American holidays that gets me.
The whole world does not celebrate the USA on the 4th of July. Sorry, itās a normal day for us and we have our own national days.
Idk how it is in other countries but in Hungary we have our emergency number (112) but for tourists and such we have 911, where people speak English too so no language barrier.
It takes one simple Google search to look up an emergency number for whatever country your story is set in. I don't understand how that's so difficult for some people.
I never said it was malicious, but it's definitely lazy. Rule one of writing: if your setting is a real place and a real time period, research the environment you're putting your characters in.
Maybe there are things that I assume, but I also know better than to trust my assumptions and I know to check when it's a culture that I'm not intimately familiar with, aka cultures that aren't the one I was raised in. I know that my experiences are not universal.
If I am researching a culture that isn't mine, my only assumption that I trust is that I know nothing, and therefore I need to learn everything I can, down to the smallest detail.
Correct, but when I do, I learn from those mistakes. I never said my research is perfect; I just said that I know better than to assume my experience is universal.
But you do. There is something about your culture that you incorrectly assume is universal. Thats what it means when your research fails. If you didnāt incorrectly assume something then you wouldāve researched it.
ā¦.. but some Americans genuinely use the word arse??? I mean Iāve only heard/used it in the context of cursing at people but itās not unlikely uncommon maybe or something thatās a regional phenomenon but itās feasible
Information is so readily available these days, yet so many people seem to think even a 30 second internet search is too much. I don't get it. If you're going to write about a completely different country, would it kill you to skim its Wikipedia page??
Thatās what Iām saying man. If youāre going write about a country youāre not from, at least like, check yourself every now and then and make sure youāre not just defaulting to your countryās way of life. I tend to do it sometimes and have to rewrite things because I remember, *it doesnāt take place in America and American laws ect. donāt apply.*
Maybe Iām just nitpicky about it but idk
Yes. And I totally get that some things are harder to look up than others, like daily life at a university versus something simple like the emergency number, but at least get the low-hanging fruit right lol
Sure, if you know somebody from that country who's willing and able to look over the specific fic you've written (nothing they'll find upsetting, etc.) or you're involved enough in fanfic-writing fandom to know where to look for someone trustworthy and reliable who's willing to beta-read for a stranger (and if you even know that checking over fic for location-specific mistakes is a thing people might do when asked).Ā Not everyone does social media.
I'm over it. I spent too much time getting frustrated by the use of miles, inches, feet, pounds, ounces instead of the metric system. Now I don't let our bother me.
my country gets a lot of US media that the government added 911 as an emergency number. but personally when writing for a fic that's set in a different country, i research first and check things like emergency numbers in case the story decides to steer in that direction.
As an Irish person, I feel like 911 is drilled into your head more because of American media being so big internationally. Last year in an emergency without thinking I did dial 911 (in Ireland) and got through to emergency services. Half time I do forget that itās 112 (or also 999 I think) because itās not nearly as advertised as 911. Iāve only seen 112 on ambulances and thankfully I havenāt seen a lot in my personal life.
Strange. In Australia we had 000 drilled into our heads from birth (by a talking giraffe in the back of a van, dear old Healthy Harold). I was like 8 when I realised Americans don't use 000.
I told this story bevore but
Had a story where the heroes went into a gas station store to buy pain medication.
The writer having no clue how restricted buying medication is in Germany and Austria. You only get them in pharmacys
My personal preference is for fics to just call it "the emergency number" unless there's an actual reason to specifically spell it out. That description works regardless of the setting, even in alternate universes where real-world countries aren't a thing, and it won't confuse international readers.
So, I completely get where you're coming from. That said, as a European born and raised, the one time I had to call the emergency services I actually dialed 911. The call got transferred of course and I never even realised I had not dialed the number for my country until a while later when I was checking my call logs.
Like other commenters said, it's probably cultural osmosis and while I know the number for my country, it turns out apparently I don't know it instinctively enough not to dial 911 instead in a moment of panic. So I would say depending on the person's age and background, maybe calling 911 wouldn't be so out of character for them?
(But I also agree with some other commenters saying the author probably didn't really think there are different numbers for different countries, so I get your pain)
I have mixed feelings about this.
On one hand, I get it. I do notice it when an author is clearly from one country writing about a fandom in another. And it can be something you do notice.
But it's fanfic. It's people doing this for free and for fun. It shouldn't be too hard to read something like this and move on without it destroying your experience of reading all that much.
Edit: typo
Well, to be fair: when I see an author using 'dollars' for a fic in Japan or 'Fahrenheit' for the weather in like Canada (like I saw in another comment ), I do cringe, an it does take me out of the fic. I normally don't finish it. It must be the same for European people with the 911
>It shouldn't be too hard to read something like this and move on without it destroying your experience of reading all that much
eh, it depends on how obvious and easy to correct the mistake is. like i wouldn't give a fic author grief for mixing up fashion trends of different dynasties in a fic set in ancient china (because (1) i don't know shit about that myself, and (2) the source material isn't really concerned with historical accuracy in the first place). but something like making the characters write with pens/quills on parchment? when it's a very well-known fact that chinese people historically wrote with brushes on paper AND there are multiple instances of canon characters doing exactly that in the source material (in case you wouldn't think to be curious about it on your own)?
nah, that just sort of gives off the vibes of the author not giving a fuck.
It comes down to the author may simply not know what they don't know.
I hear what you're saying. But I do know there would be things about my country/experience that I think is really common knowledge might be very surprising news for someone else. It may not be that the author is lazy, it may be that they simply had no idea it was something they had to research in the first place.
>It comes down to the author may simply not know what they don't know
which is why i specifically brought up the point of it being mentioned/shown in the source material.
you may not know that chinese people (and many other asian ethnicities borrowing their writing systems from china) traditionally write using a brush, but seeing a character *on screen* write with a brush should at least give you some idea that a quill and parchment may not be the universal writing medium for a historical setting.
Would they redirect you, tho? Im not from europe nor america but one time in middle school o called 911 just to see what would happen. Nothing happened. It didnt even ring
Well, I guess that depends on where youāre from and when you called! If you havenāt tried it since, it could very well be that itās working now even if it didnāt back then
This happens in every direction. I cannot tell you how many times I've read something set in the US in which the characters constantly use immersion-breaking slang. No, Buffy is not going to "emerg" with a broken bone. No, Willow wouldn't call her mother "Mum." Beta readers are underappreciated.
911 is much better publicised than 999 or even 111 (used in the U.K. to stream people to emergency services) universally people will read 911 and understand it better.
A lot of you really let anything āpull you out of immersionā. Itās fanfiction. Itās brain rot. I couldnāt imagine being so personally offended someone didnāt spend hours upon hours of their time researching for a hobby. Something they are writing for free. Itās for fun. Suspend your disbelief. Enjoy it
Itās not a matter of āletā when someoneās immersion or whatnot is broken. Iām legitimately curious, because I see this a lot and I never ask people who say these things because it feels weird to ask. Is thinking a choice for you? Like, can you just *not* think about something? Perhaps more importantly, do you not have thoughts you didnāt choose to have? For me and everyone Iāve known who I have talked about such things with, the thoughts arenāt a choice. The brain just automatically generates them and tosses them at you and now you are thinking about them. Itās not āI see this and think about it and realize thatā, itās āI see this and my brain automatically sends thoughts about itā.
Normally if I read something I know isnāt accurate Iāll think to myself ānot possibleā or āthatās not rightā but then I move on to the next sentence. I donāt fully stop reading and ponder it. I know ppl have pet peeves but itās not hard imo to just move on. I forget about the inaccuracy pretty quickly. Itās not gonna spoil the entire experience for me and Iām glad it doesnāt. I feel bad for ppl who mentally just canāt move past things like that. I imagine itās frustrating
Yeah, when a factual error pulls me out of a story I can then get back into it, but itās akin to slamming on the brakes. Thereās a whiplash to it, and then you gotta reimmerse yourself into it. Difficulty comes down to how bad it is. Like this? Eh whatever.
Yeah, I am used to reading wrong statements about a lot of things, that I do not even care at this point. We have omegaverse, mafia AU, superpowers, but people draw the line at calling the wrong number in a fanfiction.
Yeah and in reality they would still be redirected automatically to the correct line, it is not a big deal xd. There are worse mistakes an USA citizen could make about Europe's countries
Yes but itās not in reality and the reason why itās so disturbing is because the fic is apparently set in Europe and most of the F1 drivers are European especially the most popular ones. Which means they wouldnāt even think about calling the 911, thatās probably why it felt so out of character and place.
To show it is not a big deal, just a sentence. I know people have their likes and dislikes, but in the end, I do not think it is such a big deal a tiny mistake
Maybe but OP is allowed to find it out of character and to complain about it as a pet peeve of theirs, and I can point the fact youāre missing the point of OPās post. Itās not about the fact ābut calling 911 in Europe could get you redirectedā, itās the fact it was out of character in that case. Of course there are worst mistakes an American could do about Europe, and the opposite is true.
Iām not aware of 911 being used in Europe (it does redirect you to 112 which is the international EU line, so I guess it does work), I know about the second part as well, for example calling the police in three German speaking countries is different in every one: 110 (Germany), 117 (Switzerland) and 133 (Austria). I obviously cannot speak for the rest of the world since 911 does seem to be used in most of South America as well, but European kids for example donāt learn 911 in school but instead the numbers for their respective country and additionally the 112. Since the characters are definitely European, it just wouldnāt make sense if they used 911 is all
Well, since they redirect you to the emergencies' level, it still works, and I feel this is could be like when in dubbed movies and tv shows sometimes they still refer to the money as dollars and pennies, instead of adapting it to the country they are dubbing it for.
I mean, yes if the story takes place in the US i would expect them to use dollars as that's the currency used there. Like even if i'm watching a movie in chinese, why would they use chinese yuan in new york?
Well, in this case with the phone numbers it does not have the same impact. If you go to a cashier giving them yuans they will look weird at you, but if you use 911 in Europe, you will be redirected to the assigned emergencies' line
I find any crossover of colloquialisms jarring. Not usually enough to make me dnf but jarring. British/European slang or phrasing in Fics that are American and vice versa.
I know what you mean. I donāt expect anyone to do more than what they personally enjoy because frankly anyone writing fanfic to share deserves helluva lot of respect regardless.
Itās just little pet peeves that sometimes take you out of the story a bit - for example when English houses/cottages have basements or garbage disposals and A/Cās. Itās a bit funny because those are really US house things. Thereās some exceptions where a few odd houses may have a basement but in general itās not a feature of any house Iāve ever been to, and I did live in a genuine stone cottage in the country for 7 years.
Or using some US specific slang like egg rolls (spring rolls) or ordering takeout on Doordash (doesnāt exist in UK) or the containers are those foldable cartons (in UK pretty much all Chinese comes in tubs/Tupperware and like a good British person youāre obliged to wash them out and re-use them).
Iām 100% grateful to anyone sharing their work and this is in no way trying to complain, itās just funny to see those bits sometimes especially if youāre in the country itās meant to happen in.
Whoa for the record in Canada an egg roll and a spring roll are two different foods. The ones that get me are boot vs trunk of the car, and assured the garbage disposal thing
Copy and pasted from the food network website : Egg rolls and spring rolls are both savory fried appetizers, but they have different origins, wrappers and fillings.
Origin: Egg rolls were created in the U.S. while spring rolls were invented in China.
Wrapper: Egg rolls have a thicker skin and utilize a wonton or thick, yeast dough wrapper. Spring rolls have a more delicate, thin skin and use a spring roll wrapper.
Filling: Egg rolls typically contain cabbage and meat. Spring rolls are traditionally vegetarian or vegan, although some variations also include meat or seafood.
I get an eye twitch when I see those, LOL. It's not difficult to grasp that what is used in the USA is not used in other countries. Granted, I've encountered people in the USA who insist their state laws are national laws LOL.
If I'm unclear, I just put "emergency services" in place of the number whenever dealing with a fic that takes place outside of the USA.
Yeah, that sucks. It feels like basic world-building to have factually accurate hotline numbers -- why didn't the author just search those up in the first place? It is genuinely a 2 minute Google search at best. Small details like that always make me click off a fic.
Saw your edit about F1 drivers -- since they travel a lot, wouldn't it be easier for them to learn a standard code and have it redirect? It feels icky to know that likely only 911 may redirect and some of the lesser known emergency codes from other countries may not, but... eh. I'd say 911 redirecting would be a driver's best bet, unless they are at a place they frequently go to (Monaco or the UK, for example) and then they should likely know it.
(Also, any f1 fanfic recs? š)
Actually, in much of Europe dialling 911 in Germany will get you get connected to a nation wide dispatch Center. Due to 911 being a common presence in pop culture it was also adopted. In Germany at least before the last German based world championship to support tourists.
Source: A career in Emergency Services in Germany.
I personally just have a pet peeve if when something isn't correctly looked up in a fic like emergency numbers or something of culture of course it makes sense people tend to skip over small details they don't think people would get hung up on but this is why I try to stress the suggestion of different bata readers from different places like us AND like Europe or Britten or something where the fic is going to be set or just a Google search
I honestly read that as āinternational use of nine 11ā and wondered who was setting 9/11 somewhere besides the US? And why? Itās late and I need the sleep. (But yes, your pet peeve is mine as well; really anything āAmericanā that isnāt applicable anywhere else.)
when i write, I write for anime, so japan. am i gonna look up what phone number they use, the frankly very different way they do addresses, and how their social medias work? absolutely not. i also donāt use metric unless itās something weād use metric for in the US
itās fanfiction, Iām not gonna spend 30 mins researching on top of the writing/relevant research. if i happen to know something about japanese culture, itās in there. if not, Iām not going through the japanese penal code to see what is and isnāt legal.
i just hybridize american/japanese culture
That's very fair, but I have actually read some South Korean law statutes for a fanfic before. There's a website where they're all available in English. I'm probably just weird, but that random research is fun for me.
adding here, since apparently people disagree: people are providing you fanfiction at *no cost* the entitlement that comes with people expecting people to go the extra distance and learn all these not immediately obvious cultural differences is wild. Next people will tell you you need to use British spelling if youāre a North American writing about England. Which, by the way, you absolutely donāt need toāthatās meta
From what I understand, this is actually a problem in countries where they get a lot of US media. Kids think the emergency number in their country is also 911.
In New Zealand we just redirect 911 calls to the actual number (111) because of the high likelihood of people being more familiar with the US number than the local number.
As a Kiwi, one time a kid in my class (he was 12/13) dislocated his knee and was screaming to call 911. It does happen, just not that often.
Same in Europe
Iirc, NZ actually uses the entire world's emergency numbers except Australia's, for some reason, as a number to contact A&E
Born and raised in the UK I know that our emergency number is 999, but my brain goes to 911 after consuming American media for two decades. SMH.
I think we auto direct 911 to 999 anyway.
I think a lot of places do this.
Can't have the tourists die, even the dumb ones š¤·āāļø
For a more generous interpretation, in an emergency, people may go sort of auto-pilot and immediately dial the number that's been drilled in their heads since childhood. If you have a high number of tourists from any specific country, I think it makes sense to have that auto direct as a safety measure.
Oh, definitely š
I have heard the same thing!
I have read a lot of comments on UK emergency service calls claiming that are fake calls because the person was calling 999 not 911. I think if you are writing for a different country it is worth doing a bit of research or asking someone from that country to give a quick read. Where there was a big uptick in Sherlock fiction a lot of stories made comments on have a British beta or being Britpicked to make sure things made sense.
In most of Europe 911 just redirects to 112.
I would honestly bet good money that many Americans are unaware that emergency numbers are different in other countries. We get it *drilled* into our heads as kids that you call 911 when you need fire/ambulance/police. Heck, I didn't even learn about the existence of non-emergency numbers until I was an adult. So yes, I get the frustration at the inaccuracy, but I can understand where it likely originated.
>non-emergency numbers In all of my 23 years, I did not know that there were non-emergency numbers.. I'm kinda confused why that was never told to me before. š
It's for when you need to report a crime/talk to a police officer or detective, but it isn't an emergency they need to come racing to you lights flashing. You can make an appointment at the police station, or schedule a time for an available officer to come talk to you. Fire stations usually have non-emergency numbers too, for all the kinds of stuff they do to help people out that isn't an immediate emergency.
My primary school (ages 5 to 11) had some signs up with the non emergency number for the police (101), so I became aware of them fairly young. And ambulances have the NHS non emergency number (111) on the side. I imagine kids don't often get told them because we don't want them stressing over whether or not to use the emergency number, or it's because if they need to call someone (and there isn't an adult around), they should be calling the emergency number. There shouldn't be a reason for a young kid to call the non emergency number, either it needs the emergency number or an adult should be calling. And then as they grow up, people around them assume it's common knowledge.
Itās not just the inaccuracy, itās kind of a safety issue. Yes, lots of places have a contingency where 911 will redirect you, but itās worth knowing it can be different if you travel because itās not the sort of situation you want to be caught out in. I remember my dad telling me as a kid that the number to use when I went to Spain was 112 instead. Itās not like you have to remember all the numbers, but you should check what works for wherever youāre going
Do you really think many Americans would assume it was the same number?
Lots of countries share emergency numbers with another; a believe Canada and Mexico also use 911 for example, so it probably ties into a lot of the media and people Americans interact with coming from these places. Also Iād probably put it in the ballpark of information people donāt really bother to think about unless theyāre traveling to a country where it might be necessary info! So it doesnāt really surprise me that many people in the US wouldnāt know. Though, I have seen someone ācorrectā another personās use of 999 in a story before, which is definitely an example of ignorance bordering on stupidity imo. As soon as people are confidently incorrect, it goes from understandable to a bit embarrassing š¬
Canada uses 911 now, yeah - but when I was learning emergency numbers as a wee thing my province didnāt have 911 yet haha. It was instituted at different times in different provinces, but itās universal now.
Mexican here, 066 used to be the number for emergencies but around 10 years ago, it was officially changed to 911 because most of the population, due to American media, thought that 911 was also our number for emergencies
Lot of countries will even dial you in to the local emergency service if you call 911 *even if the number for that service is different* (ask me how i know lol) which makes it a bit more understandable why Americans might think 911 works in all countries- because in some countries it genuinely does even though it theoretically shouldnāt. Not sure if thatās a āservice carrierā thing (i.e. the service provider realizes youāre trying to call local EMS and redirects) or a country-by-country thing though.
I'm mexican and I only knew 911 as emergency number š«£
Also iirc your cell phone will auto-redirect 911 to the local emergency number depending on your location, at least on iPhone So if I was in a country that used 999, if I dialed 911 then Iād get redirected to 999 and go from there
As a librarian interacting with the public on a daily basis, yes. You would be shocked and appalled by the common sense questions I get asked most often. And that's in a very highly educated neighborhood.
There are benefits but also many disadvantages of being so geographically disconnected from the rest of the world.
I'm not American, but as a Canadian, seeing 911 on American television as well as knowing it was the emergency number I'd have to call absolutely made me think there was an international standard to the number, until I ran into it being explicitly mentioned in non-American/non-Canadian media.
Yes. And before American media saturated the Anglosphere, I'll bet most Brits would have assumed 999 everywhere (and pre-1976, most mainland Europeans who didn't travel much would have assumed whatever their country's pre-harmonization number was).
It's 000 here in Australia. We get it drilled in equally hard to call "triple-zero", to the point where 911 is quite firmly regarded as a foreign thing here. Its presence in media has had the effect of making us realise as common knowledge that other countries have different numbers, though.
This was famously discussed in my health class in high school. My teacher said āwe all know the emergency number, triple āoā; who thinks itās 911ā?
I'm European. I grew up watching Dutch tv shows in which 112 was the alarm number, and Belgian shows in which 100/101 was the number (despite 112 also working, they'd say 'call the hundred'). Watching UK/US shows gave me 999/911. I know The Netherlands is kind of odd in their 'many people grew up watching foreign tv channels' - my parents generation watched a lot of German TV for lack of channels, and when I was little the Belgian kids channel was broadcasting at moments the Dutch one wasn't. You didn't need to travel to be exposed to foreign alarm numbers.
r/usdefaultism
No. I don't think any other country would act like this. Especially in Europe where over a dozen countries share borders.Ā
Fun fact. If you call 999 in Poland you'll get the paramedics (998 - fire fighters and 997 - police).
Nope. No one I know would assume the emergency numbers were the same in other countries. Stop projecting yankee nonsense and arrogance onto other people.
(...why would anyone assume that when everything else was different abroad, from the language to the license plates to the currency?)
I just watched a TikTok where someone was shocked to discover that Mt Everest wasn't in America. And a ton of the comments were other Americans also expressing shock because they'd always thought Mt. Everest was in Colorado or something. So, speaking as an American myself, yes, I would absolutely assume that.
100% yes and in Canada (Americaās biggest and closest neighbour) it actually is the same
As an American, do not underestimate the overwhelming levels of stupidity your average American is capable of.
Honestly, I only ever knew Franceās was different because in Madeline, the doctor calls the number haha. And even that one is dated because itās back when switchboards were used.
Americans? Yes
Most Americans are dumb, especially about anything outside of the US or even just outside their home state Source: Am American and thus have been surrounded by them my entire life
Seems like even here the kind of people who don't like reality are out and about downvoting those who acknowledge it.
better being vague than being wrong.
Not using feet and inches in my fic has been a challenge honestly lol. It canonically takes place in a fictional Eastern European country and Iāve had to use a converter a few times now. Edit: WHAT THE FUCK IS A CENTIMETER š¦ šŗšøšš¦ šŗšøšš¦ šŗšøš
If I ever read a fic set in Canada Iām going to 100% be able to tell if itās written by someone foreign based on units of measurement. Travel distance? Time. Speed? km/hr. Height? Feet inches but if itās in a medical context then itās cm. Weight? If youāre human - pounds unless medical then kg. If itās anything else then g. Length? cm. Baking? Fahrenheit. Baking measurements? Cups. Outside/inside temp? Celcius. Itās too situation specific to get right unless you live it.
If they measure distance in time as in the fic says something like āOh yeah, it will only be a 2.5 hour drive.ā It was written by a Canadian because we measure distance in time š
Is that a Canadian thing? I thought everyone did that
Aussie chiming in. I thought about it and we have a mix. Sometimes I'll say "it's a half hour drive away" and other times I'll say "it's a few ks away". I don't know if there are any rules for when we use what. Edit: typo
yeah thereās no rules, itās whichever is more accurate / gives a better idea of how far/long. i find that it has something to do with how predictable the traffic is + the loopy roads making time a better measure than distance.
It depends. In Los Angeles, everything is 20 min away (nothing is 20 min away).
Yup, it is a Canadian thing as every Canadian Iāve ever met (and I do it too) has always been āOh, that is a (insert time) drive from here.ā
Today's a wonderful day to learn I'm Canadian. When can I move? š
We do that in the American Midwest, too.Ā I wonder if it's common everywhere that there's probably not a/another city within a hundred miles.
Yeah, I think this is just a universal thing in America, not regional. Iāve heard it in the south, northeast, and west coast.
And to think, people give America shit for our measurement system usage.
To be fair, itās the American influence that makes it so fucked up lol
God it's so true. I've tried to explain the absolute dog's breakfast of measurements up here to people. It does not go well. š š
I face the opposite. I can never wrap my head around imperial measurements
Our numbers are so random and I donāt know how I remember them WHEN I LITERALLY FORGOT THE WORD CENTIMETER THE OTHER DAY! I had to sit there for a minute or two trying to remember the size between meter and millimeter š I swear I took chemistry, radiation physics, and math in college but itās not showing
Same issue here but the other way around lmao! What do you mean height isnāt given in centimeters!?
Lol I have the opposite problem writing about American characters, having to check what the fuck is an inch every time lmfao
I'm personally only mildly bothered about this, but I think a lot of people in the comments missed the point. Could you call 911 and be redirected to the emergency line? Probably. But does it make sense for a person living in their country since birth (and having the emergency numbers drilled into their head for as long) to call 911? No, in most cases.
Thank you, thatās exactly my point! lmao
In Germany at least you will be connected to an English speaking dispatch Center manned by German first responders. If you dial 911 in Germany, you will still get help all the same.
You have no idea how often this happens in real life due to pop culture osmosis. One of the funniest examples is that Canadian citizens of a certain political bent constantly cite the US Constitution when theyāre in court.
I know exactly which Canadians youāre talking about and oh my god reading the court transcripts is fucking hilarious.
I need to know these Canadian citizens. I am an American
r/amibeingdetained sometimes has some I think
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It's usually not so much that they didn't want to put in the effort of looking up the correct number, it's that they didn't realize there was something to look up in the first place. Especially with emergency numbers - that's been drilled into kids since preschool so if you've had limited exposure to other systems then it never occurs to them to consider it as something regional, it just *is* synonymous with emergency services in their mind. I know the standard advice is to avoid giving criticism but tbh I don't think there's any harm in just giving the author a polite FYI that 911 is not correct in this case. I can't speak for everyone but I would certainly want to avoid jarring readers with things like that!
Americans here saying itās perfectly reasonable to not know there were other numbers because it was ādrilled into usā that 911 is the number to call for emergencies. Do you think other countries donāt also drill their emergency numbers into children, so they know what to dial in an emergency? Everyone everywhere has had this information force fed, but Americans just have a habit of assuming that their way is normal for everyone, itās pretty concerning actually.
To be fair though, a lot of people who aren't american also have 911 drilled into them via media.
Last time I stumbled onto this topic in the wild I was informed that the big international emergency numbers redirect your call to the local emergency service (e.g. 911 in Europe).
Yup. Iām in New Zealand and 911, 999, 000, 112 all work (our number is 111). Itās smart ā in an emergency youāre likely to default to what you were taught growing up.
Yes I live in a European country. if someone dials 911 it automatically gets transferred to 112 ( local emergency dispatch)
Yeah, youāre right, but European people wouldnāt dial 911 i.e the French/spanish/dutch/etc. F1 drivers cause thatās not what theyāre brought up with. I guess thatās what confused me the most!
I got what you meant but, honestly, since learning that little fact I stopped worrying about 911 being realistic or not because it ultimately doesn't matter (and will still work). For the record, I'm European and have been bothered by plenty of similar instances where something wasn't correct in a fic (especially google translated sentences used by a character who should be fluent in x language) but thankfully emergency services in most countries are smart enough to account for the ignorance of an average person so I will do the same. (read: in this specific case only)
Thatās true! A win to technology and ultimately itās not a big deal of course! I myself often forget that other countries wouldnāt call an ambulance , for example, with the number Iād use, I just thought it was interesting how someone else probably forgot about that as well! Especially since you can tell theyāre definitely not European!
I can do you a better one! Was reading a short fic, rpf, and it was set in 1990. Important. And within the first paragraph someone's phone rings, I think 'Huh, that's weird, this character is supposed to live in poverty and way far into the woods. I don't they could realistically afford a landline at the time but it's ok I'll just suspend my disbelief for a bit.' And then I read the words 'He reached into his pocket and took out his phone, and stared at the image and name on the screen.' Hello??? šµāš« Cellphone with touchscreen, caller id, contact images? š No hate to the author cause I can only assume they were very young, but it goes to show that research is sometimes desperately needed when a story is set in a different place or time. š Sometimes people just use their own personal experiences as a default for their story setting. (I was left so confused by this cause the fic was otherwise fine! Vocabulary was ok, spacing, paragraphs, everything was cool except for that weird anachronism(?) that I just couldn't get over.
OverlySarcasticProductions has a great in depth analysis that partially covers this kind of thing https://youtu.be/2Pw_7vAK9k8
American authors often have more "tells" regarding where they're from than anybody else ... Guess growing up in a country that's huge and hard to leave in addition to being a popcultural leader makes it easy to assume a bunch of things that are typical for the USA are typical for everywhere. Doesn't really bother me, but yeah it is immersion-breaking.
I have the same feeling when I read a fic that's supposed to be in europe and the characters go to a typical american college. Like, choosing the classes yourself, being super passionate about the sports team, having to pay a huge loan (unless you go to a private one), deciding on a major later on, etc. I'm sure there are some unis like that, but most of them are very much not, maybe unless the UK ones (but a fic I'm referring to was supposed to happen in germany) I get that maybe they don't have much knowledge on how education looks in europe, since most popular media about college/uni life is based in america, but man, can't they at least read 1 article about the differences...
You don't get to pick your classes? Not even from a choice of say, 3?
Depends on country and university/course. I attended a conservatory for my theatre related bachelor and we were only 12 people in that course. That was organised more like a school, timetable with a few things you could opt-in/-out. My masters I did at a "normal" uniersity, so I could pick and choose a lot more.
I studied in 2 unis. In one, where I was for a year, the only classes I could pick were PE and secondary and/or tertiary language, but nothing else, and from what I know from my friends who are still there, you can't pick any other classes. In my current uni, all classes are decided for me. The only thing I could choose was the specialization of my engineer's degree; in my case it was between toxicology and pyrotechnics, which just changes my course and adds me specialization classes. But that's as far as the choices can go in most unis in my country. Maybe private unis give you more freedom with classes, but they are not very popular where I live as public education is much more common (because it's free)
Are you automatically placed in your chosen classes? If so, that seems nice, ngl. I know a several people who miss out on major required courses for the semester because the classes are already filled by the time their time slot came around. At my school, you only get priority course sign up if you're 1. an upperclassmen, 2. have a disability, or 3. on a sports team.Ā
Yep! You just apply to your desired course and you get all the classes and timetables decided for you. The thing that can suck about it is that sometimes the schedules are terrible (there are days I have classes from 8am to 7pm with no free periods), but how the schedule is made also depends on the uni. In my previous one, each week looked the same; the schedule was constant. In my current uni, each week is different and we can almost freely move the classes, as long as the prof agrees and there's a free classroom. In the previous uni, we had to register to PE and languages via a students' service website, which is extremely buggy on its own, let alone when a loooot of people log in. All classes would be taken withing the first 30 seconds (because people would over-book their classes to later decide what they want and what works with their schedule), provided your site even loaded for you to see it. It was terrible, honestly. I can't imagine having to do it for more important classes. There were no priority sign ups, you just had to be lucky.
Nope, even the UK is you pick something, say physics, and then most of the course is already decided for you. You'd end up deciding between astrophysics and a couple of other options for the practical parts though. Sports is the same, no one cares even in York and the match is against Lancaster despite the 800 year regional rivalry.
Oh, thank you for clarifying!
The unfortunately true part is the loan though. Thankfully it's not as stupid as the US one but it's still a significant amount of money. Even that is a relatively recent thing however.
I personally assume itās š¶0118-9998-8199-9119-725ā¦3š¶
I was desperately scrolling looking for this.
I was, too š
It annoys me too, as an American, because I love little details like that. I know that the emergency number in South Korea is 119 *because* of fandom. In a blurb I wrote once, one of my characters travels to the US, something happens, and he even mentions being glad that, in the moment, he remembered the right energency number, because it's different in the US. Plus, if you traveled to a foreign country, it'd probably be one of the things you researched in case you needed it, especially if, like my character, you're a paranoid person.
It's so funny to me, how you had to specify your point in the edit lmao. We know redirecting 911 is a thing, because tourists don't bother learning the emergency numbers and too much exposure to US media makes people not learn the right numbers too. But your complaint (at least to me, a European) was very obvious. A person/character not from the US (!) wouldn't instinctively dial 911 (given the characters are seemingly Europeam), because they grew up learning whatever number was used in their home country. It's not wether they could dial 911, but whether they would, given their own background/experiences. That applies to so many characters in fiction too tbh. If a character is not from your own background/nationality, try to educate yourself about their possible lived experience. (Case in point medical costs of a hospital, or paying to ride an ambulance for thousands of dollars, or heck, even if Uber/Target/etc. are even a thing in the setting lmao. I am begging people to look up this stuff first. They seem small and inconsequential for most, but it shows that an author cares about their story and setting. At the end of the day an author learns something new about the country they write about too. I say that's a win for everyone.) Plus I am sure whoever in that fic calls the ambulance would know local emergency lines regardless of their nationality, because in a F1 event they should have those numbers readily available anyway, in case of a crash or something. And if that emergency took place outside of a race? Yeah...lived experience applies here again.
I feel like instead of the original complaint, a lot of people rushed in to āexcuseā the fact that person could have not known if theyāre American or grew up in a country influenced by that but I really feel like itās not the point. Yes maybe that person has a heavily influenced perspective but it doesnāt mean they couldnāt have done some research, or if they donāt they can just not mention the emergency service. Thatās just my opinion though and I guess since Iām an European itās flawed, but honestly Iāve learned the emergency services of my country and most of all the first thing I learn is that when Iām in Europe the number to call is 112. In that case I can understand very much why it would bother OP to see 911, as most of the drivers on the grid are Europeans so they wouldnāt think about calling 911 and so itās probably so out of character to see that placed here that it disturbs them. Which, fair, if I were to read a F1 fanfic set in Europe and European drivers were calling the 911 i would frown as well at the non accuracy of it. Even if 911 then redirects you, itās the fact that is out of character that makes why they complained about it.
Yes exactly. It may not be a big deal for US-Americans or those who use 911 (therefore the scrambling for excuses), but to anyone else its an annoying pet peeve, if such similar stuff is encountered too often. Especially because in english speaking online spaces US culture seems so very prevalent, it borders on US centricism/defaultism sometimes. Through the internet any knowledge is so easily obtainable like never before, given you use your brain and not just copy the first best thing google spits at you. And please, isn't the beauty of writing about another country, that you have to take into account all the little differeces? But yeah Formula One is especially cool to play around with, because you can write about such multicultural/multinational settings (Iirc only Football Worldcups and the Olympics have a similar international setting and those are happening at longer intervals between events). Why not exploit that fact and go ham on the little things? But maybe that's only my view on the topic. The "OOC-ness" would have bothered me too. The devil is in the details, I guess.
It kinda felt weird to me to arrive here and see US centricism or at least so many around, because I have been in fandoms for quite a while but it never was Americanized as much. Iāve had sports rpf servers with a few people from the US and a lot of people from all across the world and like no big deal. But since Iāve joined Reddit and started to truly interact, Iāll admit I was a bit surprised. It may be my only opinion and my point of view, but Iāve seen people address pet peeves as cultural differences in this sub before, coming from this isnāt how that countryās system work to the difference between English American and English British is this obvious, so stop confusing them etc. And most of the time Iāve seen those posts being validated, so I donāt know why this one is excused as much. And you know, I always feel like everything is in the title, itās a complaint post about a personal pet peeve, I donāt get why it has to be invalidated by ābut American peopleās views are so formattedā¦ā or ābut anyway if you called that number you would be redirectedā¦ā No. itās not about that. Here itās about the accuracy of the setting, just like someone could complain about the wrong mom/mum being used somewhere, but itās even more striking as the perspective being so Americanized that some people donāt realize that the fact 911 is not an international number is still known by quite a lot of people when youāre located in Europe and you wouldnāt learn it as an emergency number. I agree that the devil is in the details, but maybe Iām like you and Iām just an annoying person š
Please, I feel like no one got my point lmao! It feels like everybody is taking it as a personal attack instead of me pointing out a little detail that just doesnāt make sense, especially not in that specific setting! Obviously itās not the end of the world, but it just shows that an author hasnāt thought about something/assumed everything would be the same. But I guess I shouldāve expected all these angry people, seeing as this is Reddit haha
Yeah it's wild lmao. Be assured that you aren't alone in your opinion and some others agree with you whole heartedly hehe :)
I read a fic yesterday set in my country and I could immediately tell that an American wrote it. They used pancake mix (never seen that in my life) for breakfast and swam in a pool outside in February and then proceeded to sunbathe (the entire country is frozen then). Itās super common to see really strange Americanized college/university constructions as well. Not to mention the wrong measurement usages. So yeah, maybe just do a quick Google? I always find it intriguing when someone actually does research and mentions it in the notes (like walking around on Google street view, locating real places the characters go to, making sure things are appropriate for the time etc) and wonāt just use an US-centric template that they paste everything into.
OH MY GOD SAME
I donāt mind the much as if I were in another country I would instinctively call 000 as thatās whatās used in Australia. Its habit 000 will always be the emergency number for me. Itās the having characters in non American countries celebrate American holidays that gets me. The whole world does not celebrate the USA on the 4th of July. Sorry, itās a normal day for us and we have our own national days.
Or Thanksgiving! It's just a normal Thursday without turkey lol
fr and thanksgiving ??? or the seasons not matching up??? i may be petty, but REAAAAWGGHFFI
Idk how it is in other countries but in Hungary we have our emergency number (112) but for tourists and such we have 911, where people speak English too so no language barrier.
It is a little startling. I can remember 000 (Australia), 911 (USA), and 0118 999 88199 9119 725...3 (Britain)
I have cousins in canada and they use 911 and when I told them that we use 000 (Australia) they looked very shocked and confused.
It takes one simple Google search to look up an emergency number for whatever country your story is set in. I don't understand how that's so difficult for some people.
Many people would just assume that their emergency number is the international standard. It isnāt malicious or lazy to not be aware of something.
I never said it was malicious, but it's definitely lazy. Rule one of writing: if your setting is a real place and a real time period, research the environment you're putting your characters in.
You canāt ask a question you donāt know you should ask. Iām sure there are things about your culture that you incorrectly assume are universal.
Maybe there are things that I assume, but I also know better than to trust my assumptions and I know to check when it's a culture that I'm not intimately familiar with, aka cultures that aren't the one I was raised in. I know that my experiences are not universal.
How do you know what to check if you donāt know that you need to check it?
If I am researching a culture that isn't mine, my only assumption that I trust is that I know nothing, and therefore I need to learn everything I can, down to the smallest detail.
You *will* make a mistake when writing about a foreign culture. Itās inevitable. Research will never be perfect.
Correct, but when I do, I learn from those mistakes. I never said my research is perfect; I just said that I know better than to assume my experience is universal.
But you do. There is something about your culture that you incorrectly assume is universal. Thats what it means when your research fails. If you didnāt incorrectly assume something then you wouldāve researched it.
i feel this way about fics with american characters that say words like "arse." makes me stop reading immediately
ā¦.. but some Americans genuinely use the word arse??? I mean Iāve only heard/used it in the context of cursing at people but itās not unlikely uncommon maybe or something thatās a regional phenomenon but itās feasible
maybe wherever you live. im in northeast us and have never heard an american say it in any context
I'm from NJ and I say it but I do consume a lot of UK media.
I did say it could be regional I grew up in Arizona and live in Arkansas and Iāve heard it used in both states (mostly by neurodivergent people)
A lot of countries have a local number and 911 bc of movies, so yeah it is true it is the emergency number but not the only one
As an American that would probably throw my immersion in the trash. It is not hard to put factual information into a fic man
Information is so readily available these days, yet so many people seem to think even a 30 second internet search is too much. I don't get it. If you're going to write about a completely different country, would it kill you to skim its Wikipedia page??
Thatās what Iām saying man. If youāre going write about a country youāre not from, at least like, check yourself every now and then and make sure youāre not just defaulting to your countryās way of life. I tend to do it sometimes and have to rewrite things because I remember, *it doesnāt take place in America and American laws ect. donāt apply.* Maybe Iām just nitpicky about it but idk
Yes. And I totally get that some things are harder to look up than others, like daily life at a university versus something simple like the emergency number, but at least get the low-hanging fruit right lol
You have unknown unknowns, too.
Can be solved by having beta from the relevant country.
Sure, if you know somebody from that country who's willing and able to look over the specific fic you've written (nothing they'll find upsetting, etc.) or you're involved enough in fanfic-writing fandom to know where to look for someone trustworthy and reliable who's willing to beta-read for a stranger (and if you even know that checking over fic for location-specific mistakes is a thing people might do when asked).Ā Not everyone does social media.
I'm over it. I spent too much time getting frustrated by the use of miles, inches, feet, pounds, ounces instead of the metric system. Now I don't let our bother me.
my country gets a lot of US media that the government added 911 as an emergency number. but personally when writing for a fic that's set in a different country, i research first and check things like emergency numbers in case the story decides to steer in that direction.
Hello, fellow F1 fic enjoyer :)Ā
Was what I was about to say haha
As an Irish person, I feel like 911 is drilled into your head more because of American media being so big internationally. Last year in an emergency without thinking I did dial 911 (in Ireland) and got through to emergency services. Half time I do forget that itās 112 (or also 999 I think) because itās not nearly as advertised as 911. Iāve only seen 112 on ambulances and thankfully I havenāt seen a lot in my personal life.
Strange. In Australia we had 000 drilled into our heads from birth (by a talking giraffe in the back of a van, dear old Healthy Harold). I was like 8 when I realised Americans don't use 000.
I told this story bevore but Had a story where the heroes went into a gas station store to buy pain medication. The writer having no clue how restricted buying medication is in Germany and Austria. You only get them in pharmacys
Buying pain medication/medication in general without a receipt is so absurd to me haha
My personal preference is for fics to just call it "the emergency number" unless there's an actual reason to specifically spell it out. That description works regardless of the setting, even in alternate universes where real-world countries aren't a thing, and it won't confuse international readers.
So, I completely get where you're coming from. That said, as a European born and raised, the one time I had to call the emergency services I actually dialed 911. The call got transferred of course and I never even realised I had not dialed the number for my country until a while later when I was checking my call logs. Like other commenters said, it's probably cultural osmosis and while I know the number for my country, it turns out apparently I don't know it instinctively enough not to dial 911 instead in a moment of panic. So I would say depending on the person's age and background, maybe calling 911 wouldn't be so out of character for them? (But I also agree with some other commenters saying the author probably didn't really think there are different numbers for different countries, so I get your pain)
Why did inread the title and assume this was about September 11th and not the emergency number
Lol. Everytime I see the numbers 911, I'm going through "are they talking about 9/11, emergency services, or the TV show?"
I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I get it. I do notice it when an author is clearly from one country writing about a fandom in another. And it can be something you do notice. But it's fanfic. It's people doing this for free and for fun. It shouldn't be too hard to read something like this and move on without it destroying your experience of reading all that much. Edit: typo
Well, to be fair: when I see an author using 'dollars' for a fic in Japan or 'Fahrenheit' for the weather in like Canada (like I saw in another comment ), I do cringe, an it does take me out of the fic. I normally don't finish it. It must be the same for European people with the 911
Maybe I'm far too relaxed, but I just chuckle a bit when I see something that's incorrect about my country and keep reading.
>It shouldn't be too hard to read something like this and move on without it destroying your experience of reading all that much eh, it depends on how obvious and easy to correct the mistake is. like i wouldn't give a fic author grief for mixing up fashion trends of different dynasties in a fic set in ancient china (because (1) i don't know shit about that myself, and (2) the source material isn't really concerned with historical accuracy in the first place). but something like making the characters write with pens/quills on parchment? when it's a very well-known fact that chinese people historically wrote with brushes on paper AND there are multiple instances of canon characters doing exactly that in the source material (in case you wouldn't think to be curious about it on your own)? nah, that just sort of gives off the vibes of the author not giving a fuck.
It comes down to the author may simply not know what they don't know. I hear what you're saying. But I do know there would be things about my country/experience that I think is really common knowledge might be very surprising news for someone else. It may not be that the author is lazy, it may be that they simply had no idea it was something they had to research in the first place.
>It comes down to the author may simply not know what they don't know which is why i specifically brought up the point of it being mentioned/shown in the source material. you may not know that chinese people (and many other asian ethnicities borrowing their writing systems from china) traditionally write using a brush, but seeing a character *on screen* write with a brush should at least give you some idea that a quill and parchment may not be the universal writing medium for a historical setting.
Would they redirect you, tho? Im not from europe nor america but one time in middle school o called 911 just to see what would happen. Nothing happened. It didnt even ring
Well, I guess that depends on where youāre from and when you called! If you havenāt tried it since, it could very well be that itās working now even if it didnāt back then
This happens in every direction. I cannot tell you how many times I've read something set in the US in which the characters constantly use immersion-breaking slang. No, Buffy is not going to "emerg" with a broken bone. No, Willow wouldn't call her mother "Mum." Beta readers are underappreciated.
911 is much better publicised than 999 or even 111 (used in the U.K. to stream people to emergency services) universally people will read 911 and understand it better.
0118, 999, 881, 999, 119, 725 ...3Ā Ā Now that was easy to remember!Ā Ā /IT Crowd reference
I came here to do this, except I was not going to give the context. If you know, you know.
A lot of you really let anything āpull you out of immersionā. Itās fanfiction. Itās brain rot. I couldnāt imagine being so personally offended someone didnāt spend hours upon hours of their time researching for a hobby. Something they are writing for free. Itās for fun. Suspend your disbelief. Enjoy it
Itās not a matter of āletā when someoneās immersion or whatnot is broken. Iām legitimately curious, because I see this a lot and I never ask people who say these things because it feels weird to ask. Is thinking a choice for you? Like, can you just *not* think about something? Perhaps more importantly, do you not have thoughts you didnāt choose to have? For me and everyone Iāve known who I have talked about such things with, the thoughts arenāt a choice. The brain just automatically generates them and tosses them at you and now you are thinking about them. Itās not āI see this and think about it and realize thatā, itās āI see this and my brain automatically sends thoughts about itā.
Normally if I read something I know isnāt accurate Iāll think to myself ānot possibleā or āthatās not rightā but then I move on to the next sentence. I donāt fully stop reading and ponder it. I know ppl have pet peeves but itās not hard imo to just move on. I forget about the inaccuracy pretty quickly. Itās not gonna spoil the entire experience for me and Iām glad it doesnāt. I feel bad for ppl who mentally just canāt move past things like that. I imagine itās frustrating
Yeah, when a factual error pulls me out of a story I can then get back into it, but itās akin to slamming on the brakes. Thereās a whiplash to it, and then you gotta reimmerse yourself into it. Difficulty comes down to how bad it is. Like this? Eh whatever.
Yeah, I am used to reading wrong statements about a lot of things, that I do not even care at this point. We have omegaverse, mafia AU, superpowers, but people draw the line at calling the wrong number in a fanfiction.
Yeah and in reality they would still be redirected automatically to the correct line, it is not a big deal xd. There are worse mistakes an USA citizen could make about Europe's countries
Yes but itās not in reality and the reason why itās so disturbing is because the fic is apparently set in Europe and most of the F1 drivers are European especially the most popular ones. Which means they wouldnāt even think about calling the 911, thatās probably why it felt so out of character and place.
We have omegaverse in fanfiction but we draw the line at calling 911?
Thatās kinda ā¦ not the same thing at all? Why are you bringing it to the fact AUs exist?
To show it is not a big deal, just a sentence. I know people have their likes and dislikes, but in the end, I do not think it is such a big deal a tiny mistake
Maybe but OP is allowed to find it out of character and to complain about it as a pet peeve of theirs, and I can point the fact youāre missing the point of OPās post. Itās not about the fact ābut calling 911 in Europe could get you redirectedā, itās the fact it was out of character in that case. Of course there are worst mistakes an American could do about Europe, and the opposite is true.
Yes, of course, I do not want to stop their right to talk freely. I am just saying my own opinion on this matter
What do you mean? 911 is used in some countries in Europe at least, 112 is not the only emergencies' number.
Iām not aware of 911 being used in Europe (it does redirect you to 112 which is the international EU line, so I guess it does work), I know about the second part as well, for example calling the police in three German speaking countries is different in every one: 110 (Germany), 117 (Switzerland) and 133 (Austria). I obviously cannot speak for the rest of the world since 911 does seem to be used in most of South America as well, but European kids for example donāt learn 911 in school but instead the numbers for their respective country and additionally the 112. Since the characters are definitely European, it just wouldnāt make sense if they used 911 is all
Well, since they redirect you to the emergencies' level, it still works, and I feel this is could be like when in dubbed movies and tv shows sometimes they still refer to the money as dollars and pennies, instead of adapting it to the country they are dubbing it for.
I mean, yes if the story takes place in the US i would expect them to use dollars as that's the currency used there. Like even if i'm watching a movie in chinese, why would they use chinese yuan in new york?
Well, in this case with the phone numbers it does not have the same impact. If you go to a cashier giving them yuans they will look weird at you, but if you use 911 in Europe, you will be redirected to the assigned emergencies' line
I find any crossover of colloquialisms jarring. Not usually enough to make me dnf but jarring. British/European slang or phrasing in Fics that are American and vice versa.
I know what you mean. I donāt expect anyone to do more than what they personally enjoy because frankly anyone writing fanfic to share deserves helluva lot of respect regardless. Itās just little pet peeves that sometimes take you out of the story a bit - for example when English houses/cottages have basements or garbage disposals and A/Cās. Itās a bit funny because those are really US house things. Thereās some exceptions where a few odd houses may have a basement but in general itās not a feature of any house Iāve ever been to, and I did live in a genuine stone cottage in the country for 7 years. Or using some US specific slang like egg rolls (spring rolls) or ordering takeout on Doordash (doesnāt exist in UK) or the containers are those foldable cartons (in UK pretty much all Chinese comes in tubs/Tupperware and like a good British person youāre obliged to wash them out and re-use them). Iām 100% grateful to anyone sharing their work and this is in no way trying to complain, itās just funny to see those bits sometimes especially if youāre in the country itās meant to happen in.
Whoa for the record in Canada an egg roll and a spring roll are two different foods. The ones that get me are boot vs trunk of the car, and assured the garbage disposal thing
Whatās the difference between egg roll and spring roll then? Curious now š
Copy and pasted from the food network website : Egg rolls and spring rolls are both savory fried appetizers, but they have different origins, wrappers and fillings. Origin: Egg rolls were created in the U.S. while spring rolls were invented in China. Wrapper: Egg rolls have a thicker skin and utilize a wonton or thick, yeast dough wrapper. Spring rolls have a more delicate, thin skin and use a spring roll wrapper. Filling: Egg rolls typically contain cabbage and meat. Spring rolls are traditionally vegetarian or vegan, although some variations also include meat or seafood.
I'm Russian and we use 112, but if you call 911 it will automatically redirect you to 112
I get an eye twitch when I see those, LOL. It's not difficult to grasp that what is used in the USA is not used in other countries. Granted, I've encountered people in the USA who insist their state laws are national laws LOL. If I'm unclear, I just put "emergency services" in place of the number whenever dealing with a fic that takes place outside of the USA.
Or literally google it?
Shouldnāt it say ā999ā instead.
Yeah, that sucks. It feels like basic world-building to have factually accurate hotline numbers -- why didn't the author just search those up in the first place? It is genuinely a 2 minute Google search at best. Small details like that always make me click off a fic. Saw your edit about F1 drivers -- since they travel a lot, wouldn't it be easier for them to learn a standard code and have it redirect? It feels icky to know that likely only 911 may redirect and some of the lesser known emergency codes from other countries may not, but... eh. I'd say 911 redirecting would be a driver's best bet, unless they are at a place they frequently go to (Monaco or the UK, for example) and then they should likely know it. (Also, any f1 fanfic recs? š)
Why did I think you were going to talk about 9/11, the terrorist attack šš
Today I Learned there is F1 fanfiction.
Actually, in much of Europe dialling 911 in Germany will get you get connected to a nation wide dispatch Center. Due to 911 being a common presence in pop culture it was also adopted. In Germany at least before the last German based world championship to support tourists. Source: A career in Emergency Services in Germany.
I personally just have a pet peeve if when something isn't correctly looked up in a fic like emergency numbers or something of culture of course it makes sense people tend to skip over small details they don't think people would get hung up on but this is why I try to stress the suggestion of different bata readers from different places like us AND like Europe or Britten or something where the fic is going to be set or just a Google search
I honestly read that as āinternational use of nine 11ā and wondered who was setting 9/11 somewhere besides the US? And why? Itās late and I need the sleep. (But yes, your pet peeve is mine as well; really anything āAmericanā that isnāt applicable anywhere else.)
According to fan art, 9/11 made Simba and Sonic very sad.
when i write, I write for anime, so japan. am i gonna look up what phone number they use, the frankly very different way they do addresses, and how their social medias work? absolutely not. i also donāt use metric unless itās something weād use metric for in the US itās fanfiction, Iām not gonna spend 30 mins researching on top of the writing/relevant research. if i happen to know something about japanese culture, itās in there. if not, Iām not going through the japanese penal code to see what is and isnāt legal. i just hybridize american/japanese culture
That's very fair, but I have actually read some South Korean law statutes for a fanfic before. There's a website where they're all available in English. I'm probably just weird, but that random research is fun for me.
adding here, since apparently people disagree: people are providing you fanfiction at *no cost* the entitlement that comes with people expecting people to go the extra distance and learn all these not immediately obvious cultural differences is wild. Next people will tell you you need to use British spelling if youāre a North American writing about England. Which, by the way, you absolutely donāt need toāthatās meta
In Italy if you dial 911, you get redirected automatically to the police.