Were they in dialogue? If so they could have been deliberate, to reflect ungrammatical speech.
I never said I was unaware there were differences. I’m well aware of them; that wasn’t at all what my OP was about.
Two of them were in dialog–I considered that possibility, but they were said by Snape and Voldemort, who I would not expect to be ungrammatical.
Sorry, I didn’t mean you, Fiver, but some of the other posters in this thread.
Looking at some of the changes listed in NoPretentiousCodename’s link, I’m glad they made them. I’ve spent a fair amount of time living/working with people from the UK and I know that when they tell me to put my rubbish in the bin, I’m meant to throw away my trash, or if they like my jumper, they’re talking about my sweater and not my dress. I even know that a fanny (the Americans in the group had used the term “fanny pack”) is something a bit different across the pond. I still wouldn’t have known what Rowling was talking about without some of the American editing differences. For instance, from the Chamber of Secret’s list:
-tank top -> sweater vest
-news agent’s -> variety store
-grass on Hagrid -> squeal on Hagrid
-jump-jets -> missiles
There are a few more, no more than a handful in the entire book, but it would have been enough to leave me scratching my head at times. I like to pretend that I’m a bit cleverer than the average American Harry Potter reader, so I imagine that many other’s would have also been confused. A lot of those word changes, IMHO, made sense. Why wouldn’t you have them changed?
And would it have killed you to look them up in a dictionary or encyclopedia?
So I can immerse myself in another culture, another world. Why else does one read fiction in the first place?
Well, yes, actually. I would have immediately dropped dead after opening the dictionary. :rolleyes:
Neither “news agents” nor “jump-jets” were in my dictionary, but looking up “news”, “agents”, “jumps”, and “jets” did not lead me to what Rowling meant by the words. It wasn’t just that I was being lazy, my dictionary is actually kept on a small bookshelf beside my bed because I refer to it frequently enough while reading that I like it within arms reach. I could find the British meanings of those words online, but I also don’t think it’s unreasonable to dislike pausing my reading long enough to do so.
The way that Americans speak English has shifted enough from how people in the UK speak English that translations are needed. If the book was written in, say, German, it would have been translated for an American audience. That’s just what publishers do for audiences that speak a different (even if it’s only slightly different) language than the author.
As for immersing yourself in another culture, if you were reading a book about a country which had a native language you were unfamiliar with, would you just keep a dictionary by your side so that you could translate words you didn’t know?
*I cut out the bit about how to pronounce grass.
Not sure why they changed “jump-jets” to missiles. The words are not synonymous. A Harrier jump jet is not a missile, and I don’t know of any other usage for the phrase.
Incidentally, what do Americans call a newsagents? (It is usually spelt as one word these days.) I.e. a shop that sells newspapers and magazines, maybe sweets/candy and cigarettes? “Variety store” doesn’t seem right.
The ambiguous ones are the tough ones for younger readers who don’t have a huge vocabulary to begin with. Like “trainers”. If they don’t know what it means, they have to look it up in the dictionary, and that doesn’t help at all.
We usually call them “newsstands.” I agree that “variety store” is not a good fit.
The American versions still refer to “trainers,” don’t they? I find this rather suprising, seeing as Americans would be more inclined to call them “sneakers.”
Agreed, but “newsstand” sounds a little 1930s-ish to me. Drug stores (also called, maybe a little more formally, pharmacies) also serve that function in the U.S.
“Newsstand” is a closer American equivalent to “newsagent.” Although you don’t see many newsstands nowadays. And the remaining ones usually have rather unsavory (unsavoury) back rooms selling periodicals that make Hustler seem staid.
“Variety store” is even more old fashioned!
For us smart American kids, the Canadian editions of HP are readily available for purchase. Yes, I’ve heard of The Philosopher’s Stone! But apparently theFrench kids haven’t.
And–for the true linguistic sophisticate!
Oh god, am I interpreting that right? The French did go with “Harry Potter and the School of Magic”?!
No, no, no! It’s Harry Potter and the School of Sorcerers.
I believe that should be “whom I would not expect to be ungrammatical.”
Are you sure? Looks like Harry Potter and the School of Bechamel Makers to me.
No, no, no. Harry Potter and the Academy of Creme Brulee Masters.
MissMossie writes:
> -tank top -> sweater vest
> -news agent’s -> variety store
> -grass on Hagrid -> squeal on Hagrid
> -jump-jets -> missiles
One of these is turned around. For the last three of these, it’s British -> American, but the first one is American -> British. “Sweater vest” is what Brits call a tank top.
Are you sure? I checked my American addition and, sure enough, it refers to Percy wearing a sweater vest. If he was wearing a tank top as Americans generally think of them, I would very much wonder about him. Sweater vests as Americans think of them, seem to suit his character a bit more.
Disclaimer: Yes, yes, I know that I can’t accurately speak for every American. I do feel that I’m not totally outlandish in my claims of American fashion though.
Hmm, you seem to be right:
So a tank top in the U.K. is a sweater vest in the U.S.
The funny thing is that a string vest in the U.K. is what’s often called a wife-beater in the U.S., which is close to what’s called a tank top in the U.S.
So tank top -> sweater vest, but string vest -> wife-beater (which is almost a tank top), going British -> American in both cases.