We have a date!

For Writercon UK 2011!!

Gakked (is that the fandom-acceptable euphemism for plagiarised? *g*) in large part from daiseechain -

writerconuk is a small, relaxed, friendly affair for those involved in fanfic, fanart, fanvidding, faneverything and anyone who provides the essential support - betas, critiquers, coders, collectors and compilers. Plus those who just enjoys fandom quietly - readers, watchers, lookers and lurkers.

And the date is... The first weekend in August!

That's Friday 5th to the Sunday 7th of August 2011.

The venue is the Ramada Hotel, Coventry, UK.

The cost will probably be £30 membership, plus £59/night for a single room, including breakfast, and £69/night for a double, with breakfast.

More details to follow, shortly, at writerconuk

Words, words and more words

After I posted to complain about the word 'gotten', only to learn that it is correct usage as the past tense of 'get', in American English, I thought I would ask another question, rather than make assumptions in ignorance.

It's the word 'said', used to mean 'the' or 'that particular one', as in, for example, 'Jack and Bob were in a hotel room and Jack spoke as he paced around said room.'

I see it a lot and, on the few occasions I have thought to look, the writers were American. To me, it feels like a very old fashioned and stilted word usage and it usually causes me to back-button out of the story, if it occurs before I have had time to engage with the writing.

But I remember noticing Giles use it once, in an episode of BtVS, so I'm wondering if this is a word in common usage in America, or whether it is believed by Americans to be in common usage in Britain.

For that matter, is it in common usage in Britain and I've just avoided picking it up?

What do you think?

I don't necessarily expect it to bother you, because, well, we all have our own pet likes and dislikes. But I would be interested to know if 'said' used in that way is considered common usage. Do you use it in everyday speech or thought?