Philosopher's stone v. sorcerer's stone

[Heather Moore]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at y..., "Monique" <valjean131 at a...> wrote:
> --- In HPFGU-Movie at y..., nancyaw2001 at y... wrote:
> > 
> > Gee. And to think I thought I'd gotten a good education! <G> I 
> >don't know of any object called the "sorcerer's stone". Nor had I 
> >ever heard of the Philosopher's Stone. 
> 
> LOL. You're not alone. 
> 
> I don't think there is anything called "The Sorcerer's Stone".
> I'm assuming the title change was made so that American's, who
> didn't know the legend of the Philosopher's Stone, wouldn't
> be confused as to what philosophy had to with the thing at all. ;-)
> 
> It was easiest to call it a sorcerer's stone, thus implying the
> magical qualities, as opposed to the spiritual/philosophical. 
> Although, philosophy actually has a great deal to do with it.
> 
> Hope that made sense.
> 
> -Monique

 Uhm, I'm an American, and I knew the legend of the Philosopher's 
Stone. Exactly how widespread is common knowledge of the PS in *every 
other country but America*? Nobody else felt the need to change the 
term. It's the one thing that really annoys me about the Scholastic 
editions; it tends to assume Americans are just too stewpidd to 
geddit unless we're spoonfed.