[HPforGrownups] Re: MacNair/US changes

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 6969

Machenback said, in response to comments about Walden McNair:

<<<<I take it that the "good-connotation" is the word's connection with
 Thoreau? If so, then I think the answer is that "Walden" would have
 no such association for the majority of UK readers at least and
 possibly that JKR chose it out of her collection of interesting
 sounding words without wanting to make any wider reference.The only
 time I've ever seen Walden mentioned on the UK is in passing
 references in the Doonesbury comic strip.I wouldn't call Thoreau a
 widely recognised figure over here either.>>>>

Two Walden references spring to this British mind: Saffron Walden, which is
a town, and Brian Walden, who is/was a political journalist, interviewer and
former Labour MP.  I suppose Brian Walden was known for executing his
victims with his hectoring style, but I expect this is another example of
JKR using a place name as a given name.  Maybe Saffron Walden has some
connection with executions...?

***

Scott said:

<<<<May I point out that I am an American myself, and what I was trying
to insinuate was that we can figure out things for ourselves instead
of having them changed for us.  I  might also add that I didn't know
what a Sorcerer's Stone/ Philiosopher's stone was when first reading
the books nor was I very well knowledged about Alchemy. >>>>

I imagine quite a few people, American or British, would not have known much
about the Philosopher's Stone or alchemy before this book was published.  It
seems that the title change was made by Scholastic based on their perception
of the readership of the book since, initially at least, they would have
been marketing it to children.  I think they were wrong to change it, but it
was a marketing decision akin to Bloomsbury's decision to change Joanne to
JK to avoid alienating potential boy readers.

IIRC, JKR has been quoted as saying (not sure when or where) that she
approved the changes from British to American English because she wanted
every reader (I think she said 'child' but let's not upset Penny unduly) to
have the same experience of the books and didn't want them to be stumbling
over unfamiliar words.  No one would dispute the idea of a translation of
the books into French, German or Japanese in the interests of communicating
the story, but because the British and American languages are virtually the
same there are obviously only a few words that need to be changed and some
could argue that they should have been left alone.  With the later books,
the adult readers had become more vocal [all raise your hands] and the
perceived reader group was older, which is a likely reason there were fewer
changes in GoF.

It would be interesting to hear from other English-speakers (Australians,
New Zealanders, Canadians et al).  Do you have editions with slight changes?
Is Hagrid's hut called a 'batch' in the NZ editions, for example?   Are
sofas called 'lounges' in the Australian editions?  Are there any sofas
mentioned at all?  I need to know... :-)

Neil

(Welcome back Ebony and congrats on the job!)

_____________________________________

Flying-Ford-Anglia

"Ron, full of turkey and cake and with nothing
mysterious to bother him, fell asleep almost
as soon as he'd drawn the curtains of his
four-poster."

[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]