English in "The Colonies"

The past few days have been devoted to liposuction on a story that needed to be reduced in size by fifty percent. That challenge, however, was equalled by the need to alter the story's language so that it was appropriate for a British market.  The experience was frustrating and hilarious, particularly since the story in question is about contemporary tweens. Pop culture, sports, fast food: all these topics show up in my story, and the language describing them relies on regionalisms.

This morning I was sure I'd nailed all the problems. Fries had become chips. There was no mention of baseball. Mom was now Mum. Oh, and 4000 words was now 2000.

Feeling proud (sorry, feeling chuffed), I printed the story, and only then did the funniest error occur to me. I am a music teacher, and this story deals with music. But I had not thought to change the American "eighth note" to the British "quaver" or "sixteenth note" to "semiquaver."

Oh, well. I caught it just in time and reprinted. Sure hope this finds a home in a Brit-influenced land, but it was a fun experiment in any case.