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

[Haggridd]

No: HPFGUIDX 16095

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Indigo" <indigo at i...> wrote:
> --- 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

In my hardcover edition of the U.S. book I have "careen".  I am 
delighted that the editors corrected this in later printings.  I am 
saddened, however, that the Merriam-Webster people have legitimized a 
mistake, merely because it has become an-all-too-common error.  I 
differ with their acceptance of this new meaning for what had been a 
perfectly nice nautical tern. I realize that the language is evolving, 
but this is not evolution, it is capitulation to ignorance.

Haggridd
p.s. I also try not to split my infinitives, even though this solecism 
of grammar has become somewhat acceptable.  H.