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auctasinistra (auctasinistra) wrote,
@ 2008-10-31 21:35:00

Okay
Another one of those minor Britishism questions. Do English people ever say scared? In casual conversation, that is. "I'm scared." Or is "frightened" or "afraid" more common? Scared sounds very American to me.

Thanks for any input.

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	f13tch3r 2008-11-01 12:13 am UTC (link)
	I can't really answer your question but I do know that the Doctor cries, "I'm scared!" in episode "42" in season 3 of the new series. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	auctasinistra 2008-11-01 12:18 am UTC (link)
	That helps! If it's not unheard of for British persons to say "scared," maybe I can get away with it. :-) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	f13tch3r 2008-11-01 01:23 am UTC (link)
	Gotta love pop culture! Happy to help in any way. :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	banefire 2008-11-01 01:39 am UTC (link)
	Yep! They say it. Also, being a Brit myself, we also say: "I'm shitting myself here!" LOL! ;) (Reply to this) (Thread)

	drachenmina 2008-11-01 07:27 am UTC (link)
	...or I was shitting bricks ;D (Reply to this) (Parent)

	aunty_marion 2008-11-01 06:43 am UTC (link)
	Yes, 'scared' is fine. Also 'terrified', 'petrified', 'wetting myself' (mostly figurative and hyperbolical...), 'frightened'; 'afraid' is mostly not used on its own, as far as I can think - more often 'I'm afraid that...' or indeed 'I'm afraid of (the dark/heights/open spaces/snakes)' and so on. (Reply to this)

	persevero 2008-11-02 03:54 am UTC (link)
	I agree 100% with aunty_marion, but then as I've just discovered she comes from all of twenty miles from my birthplace, we probably speak very similar versions of British English. (Reply to this)

orions_stars
2008-11-05 09:10 pm UTC (link)

I'm an American, but I know I've seen the word "scared" in British English books/stories I've read. Wish I could point to a specific example, but I can't find anything in what I've got on hand.

If this is a Harry Potter-verse question, off the top of my head I remember Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter having their "Scared?" "You wish." exchange in Chamber of Secrets (in the chapter about the dueling club), so at least Draco Malfoy uses the word.

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