The American Editors are Idiots! (spinoff on Hermione in US/UK)

[Indigo]

No: HPFGUIDX 16086

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Haggridd" <jkusalavagemd at y...> wrote:
> I abhor the changes that the editors of the U.S. editon of the 
books 
> made in their patronizing assumption that American readers--
> including kids-- would not appreciate the British locutions.  First 
> and foremost, of course, is the loss of the title of PS. I won't go 
> into all of the rich alchemical history associated with the search
> for the Philosopher's Stone; suffice it to say that the U.S. 
edition 
> suffers from the lack of any such associations.  The differences of 
> expression add to our enjoyment of the HP books; the editors should 
> have left well enough alone.  Their capital crime, however, is that 
> those editors have eliminated a correct word, and, in their supreme 
> ignorance actually have made an error in its stead.  The verb "to 
> career" is used properly by JKR.  The editors have replaced it with 
> the verb "to careen", which means "to dock or beach a ship for 
repair 
> or refitting".  

Actually, "careen" also means "to lurch wildly or unexpectedly from 
place to place" in American English, just as in British English. 
Merriam-Webster's dictionary for that matter indicates the word as 
synonymous to the word CAREER.   Merriam-Webster simply cites the 
word "career" is not used as widely this side of The Big Pond, which 
is why I presume the word was changed. 

I figured out from CONTEXT what JKR meant, as although I purchased an 
American copy of the book from Borders,  the word 'career' was indeed 
intact.

Maybe the complaints did not fall on deaf ears after all. 

Indigo