[HPforGrownups] Re: WHY a UK (PS) vs. US (SS) edition and other newbie musings

[Sheryll Townsend]

No: HPFGUIDX 30730


--- Karen Shepherd <knitwit1912 at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> This idea of changing words in the books is also
> rather puzzling when
> you consider that we Canadians get the British text
> of the books, when
> we're probably more lexiconally (if that's even
> appoximating something
> that might be a word :->) like Americans.  I mean,
> we get most American
> TV shows (and Canadian TV shows use the same terms
> Americans do), most
> areas of the country get almost solely American
> movies (or at least
> they're the ones with the biggest box office and
> most publicity),
> American bestsellers show up on our best-seller
> lists...so why not
> change the terms for the Canadian market?
> 
> I personally watch a lot of the British shows that
> PBS and TVO carry, so
> I can't remember any terms in the books that I
> didn't know, or at least
> weren't obvious from the context, but I doubt that
> most other Canadians
> are the same way.  I mean, I understood the British
> terms, but I've
> almost never heard another Canuck using them in
> everyday speech!  Did
> any of the other Canadians on here find themselves
> scratching their
> heads at some of the terms?

Nope, no head scratching at any of the terms from this
Canadian. Nor did my daughter come running to me
asking what things meant. My nephew, on the other
hand, did ask what some things meant, as some
expressions were completely foreign to him. I chalk
this up to the fact that he's not much of a reader,
which I think makes all the difference. I feel that
most of us who've done a great deal of reading will
have come across most of the terms used in the UK
versions at some point and would therefore be familiar
with them. I don't really think it's the fact that
we're exposed to so much American media that's to
blame, just the fact that some people aren't as
voracious readers as others.

Sheryll

=====
"We need to be united and strong. We'll have losses and scares, sure. And you'll be there for each other, helping each other through the bad times."
 blpurdom - Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent, Chapter 26

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