[HPforGrownups] The American Editors are Idiots! Is JKR an American Editor, therefore, an idiot?

[Doreen]

No: HPFGUIDX 16162




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".  The intended meaning of "to career", "to lurch wildly
or unexpectedly from place to place", is not by any means an alternate
or secondary meaning of the verb "to careen".  I apologize for
ranting this way, but it really annoyed me the way the editors
condescended to American readers of all ages.

Haggridd

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Sorry, but JKR made ALL of the editing changes "by herself."


>From a Scholastic Interview:

Q. What kind of manuscript changes had to be made to make the U.S. version
more understandable to American readers? Specific things, like the title
change of the first Harry Potter book?

A. Very few changes have been made in the manuscript. Arthur Levine, my
American editor, and I decided that words should be altered only where we
felt they would be incomprehensible, even in context, to an American reader.
I have had some criticism from other British writers about allowing any
changes at all, but I feel the natural extension of that argument is to go
and tell French and Danish children that we will not be translating Harry
Potter, so they'd better go and learn English.
The title change was Arthur's idea initially, because he felt that the
British title gave a misleading idea of the subject matter. We discussed
several alternative titles and 'Sorcerer's Stone' was my idea.

From:
http://www.southwestnews.com/rowling.htm


Q: Do you assist with the vernacular, idiomatic expression and other
vocabulary changes between the UK and the US versions of the HP series ?
(Jenny Lando)

A: Do I assist ? I do it all! A lot has been made of this but I have to say
too much has been made of it. The word changes were miniscule. I don't think
it would be as much as one per cent. And they were literally words that
meant something utterly different - like 'jumper', which means 'pinafore
dress' in America. I didn't want people to think Harry was walking around in
a pinafore dress. They have enough problems without going into drag as well.
(JKR)

Ahem ... does this make JKR an idiot?

Doreen
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