Sorcerer stone v Philosopher Stone WAS: Hermione

[Beatrice23]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, Brian <brian at ...> wrote:
>
> Brigrove: As a Brit who has also lived in the US for a while, I have to say that
> Philosopher's Stone would have meant nothing more to ME than it would to
> an American kid.
>
> But let's face it, American publishers (and Hollywood is worse) try to
> Americanise EVERYTHING and it is frankly offensive to most of the rest
> of the world.

Beatrice: I wondered this myself.  When I first discovered the series and read the title, I remember thinking "is a sorcerer's stone like a philosopher's stone?"  Lately, I have been hoping that they would republish these books in extended versions with the British idioms instead of Americanized versions.

> Brigrove: I wonder why American publishers felt they had to dumb down the title,
> yet in South America, with generally poorer levels of education, it
> wasn't deemed to be necessary?

Beatrice:  I don't really have an answer here, but I wonder if it is not so much that publishers were "dumbing" things down as they may be used to different marketing strategies?  Perhaps children are viewed as more powerful consumers in the US than they are elsewhere.  Perhaps publishers in the US are used to children having disposable income/money and see children / teens as more apt to make their purchasing decisions independent of their parents, as opposed to children / teens whose parents are either more involved or make the purchases outright?  Or perhaps those countries simply don't consider children as viable consumers?

Of course dumbing things down for American readers is a huge possibility too.  I wonder if things will change after the popularity of HP...after all they seriously seem to underestimate the strength of readership in America.