From mark.snegg@onwe.co.za Sun Sep 26 00:11:04 1999 Received: from mxu1.u.washington.edu (mxu1.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.08) with ESMTP id AAA12532 for ; Sun, 26 Sep 1999 00:11:03 -0700 Received: from pop.ibi.co.za (IDENT:root@pop.ibi.co.za [196.28.81.35]) by mxu1.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.08) with ESMTP id AAA25276 for ; Sun, 26 Sep 1999 00:11:01 -0700 Received: from user (ndf53-01-p81.gt.saix.net [196.15.182.81]) by pop.ibi.co.za (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id JAA24971 for ; Sun, 26 Sep 1999 09:13:23 +0200 From: "Mark Snegg" To: "Classics List" Subject: UK and US English Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999 09:07:32 +0200 Message-ID: <01bf07ed$cda5c520$LocalHost@user> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.71.1712.3 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.71.1712.3 A recent example of differences in UK-US English, which stirred up a bit of controversy, is the “translation” of the best-selling children’s book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by J. K. Rowling. This is notable not only for changes in spelling, substitution of “sweater” for “jumper” and suchlike, but for the dumbing-down of the title for the American market. In the UK and the rest of the English-speaking world, the book is known by the title above. In America it was published as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". Apparently the publishers feared that American kids might think it had something to do with philosophy, which might affect sales. And some people in America have expressed surprise that young Americans could possibly understand and enjoy a book which is so extremely “British”. Since the book and it’s sequels have been so high on the best-seller lists in the US for so long, the problem seems to be patronising and over-protective adult attitudes, not the ability of US kids to relate to differences in culture. The only remote connection of all this with the classics is the coat-of-arms of Hogwarts, the school for wizards and witches, which appears at the front of the book (at least in the UK edition). It has the motto “Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus”. And most of the magic incantations in the book, if not quite Latin, are definitely Latin-ish. If anyone is interested in children's books, you'll find the Harry Potter books well worth reading. I bought the first book to see what the all the fuss was about, and I'm now re-reading the books for the 3rd time. They are without a doubt the best children's books I've seen for many years. And unlike most children’s books being published today, I'm sure they will still be read with enjoyment in another 100 years. Mark .