Plural/singular, again, & other UK/US stuff

[Amy Z]

Jim Flanagan wrote:
 
> 3.  Collective nouns are sometimes treated as plural in the British 
> versions, but singular in the American. This is particularly obvious 
> when referring to sports teams:
> 
> British: "Slitherin score!"
> 
> American: "the Slitherins score!"

Okay, I know this was done to death awhile back, but it's the OT list 
and I can write whatever I want!  Bwahahahahaha!  <--high, cold, cruel 
laugh

This illustration doesn't quite capture the difference.  The point is 
that if the commentator was American, and calling the team Slytherin, 
he/she would say "Slytherin scores."

British usage treats the team, whatever its name, as a plural.  In US 
usage, we vary it depending on the feel of the noun itself.  This is 
done in a highly irregular manner.  For example:

The Celtics score!  but

Boston scores!

Okay, that makes some kind of sense.  They are the same thing--the 
Boston Celtics--but "Celtics" is plural and "Boston" is singular.  So 
far so good.

But when you come to team names that are singular--which are a fairly 
new phenomenon in the US, but on the rise, particularly in 
soccer--things get weird.

Miami scores!  BUT

The Heat score!

The name is singular, but you'll often hear the plural verb anyway.

Then, there's the rule I was taught, which is that it depends on 
whether you're talking about collective action or individual action.

The team put on their uniforms.  (team treated as a group of 
individuals)

The team put on its best performance all season. (team treated as a 
single entity)

Back to HP--Jim, I've noticed different paragraphing in the US and UK 
editions.  My very rough first impression is that the US edition tends 
to break up paragraphs more.  Check out ch. 33 of GF for several 
examples.

Arthur Levine's comments on UK-->US translation are a tad disingenuous 
and oddly confused, IMO (see hpgalleries.com).  E.g., he says that 
they translated "barking" because USans don't know what it means, and 
he explains, "'Dumbledore is barking mad' means he's really angry."  
This is not what "barking" means--and furthermore, they don't 
translate it, at least not every time.  (I'm hoping that this one will 
find its way into 'Murcan.  I love the term "barking.")

Amy Z