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

[Indigo]

No: HPFGUIDX 16098

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Haggridd" <jkusalavagemd at y...> wrote:
> --- 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.
> 
Unfortunately it's also the nature of the beast.  The US and the UK 
are too far away for us to maintain each other's pronunciations.  
This is just "one of those things," however regrettable.

I'm just glad "WHASSUP!" is not in Merriam-Webster yet, and that 
people make fun of the bad translation from whence comes "All Your 
Base are Belong to Us." 

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

As has "starting a sentence with the word 'And'."

But to get back on topic:  

Hermione doesn't strike me as the timid type, even if she was faced 
up with Sirius Black.  She may not have pegged him as an innocent, 
but she definitely could tell he wasn't entirely what he seemed. 

She isn't timid to Snape, and he's a hardcase.

She was timid around Lockhart, but she had a crush on him like many 
witch-girls.

She wasn't even timid around Krum, who was being all bashful around 
her.


Indigo