US/English Versions

[lucky_kari]

No: HPFGUIDX 34403

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "~ chappnee ~" <chappnee at h...> wrote:
> Well I think I have the ideal position here.  I live in Canada so 
saying so 
> would mean that I'm extremely familiar or, at most, talk with 
American 
> slang.  As most of you might know, Canada's version of the books 
was the 
> British version and I have to tell you, that even though I had no 
idea what 
> a prefect was (I'm assuming that it is a common term in Britain?), 
what 
> 'bogies' were, and what she meant by 'jumper', it wasn't the 
hardest thing 
> in the world to figure out.  

English boarding school novels had introduced me to the "prefect". 
While I first thought "bogies" might be another word for 
multiple "bogie-men", thus making the jellybean more disgusting, if 
you think about it, that didn't interrupt my reading in any way, and 
it became perfectly obvious what the word meant when it was in a 
Troll's nose, for heaven's sakes! I am one of the people that I 
suppose the American editor wanted to change the words for, since I 
wore a jumper as part of my school uniform in Grades 3 and 4 and it 
would indeed be frightening to see Harry in a North American jumper. 
But, it never even crossed my mind that Harry was cross-dressing. I 
just figured it was British slang for sweater. It seemed obvious 
enough in the text. As for British food, I had no idea until very 
recently what a Yorkshire puddding was, for heaven's sake, but I 
liked the sound of it. Later, I learned that I hated the taste of it, 
but that's another story. One of the funniest things I've always 
found about British books is the food. In a book set outside of the 
English speaking world, exotic food is well exotic. But food 
described in English that really doesn't sound right in your culture 
is charming. For example, "Ron reached for another piece of steak and 
kidney pie!" My response: "What? ICCCCCCCKKKK!" (Though I'm sure it's 
very good. :-) or in the Railway Children, the line that always 
cracked us up at school was where someone makes a remark about how 
strange it felt to be eating apple pie for breakfast instead of 
pigeon pie! 

> 
> The whole issue with confusing 'soccer' and 
> 'football' didn't matter much to me at all.  In fact, even though I 
> understood it to mean Canadian football, it didn't confuse me 
because it's a 
> minor detail and not significant to the plot.  

It took about three readings in to remember that Dean Thomas's 
favourite football team was playing soccer. And I know the difference 
between the words. But, as you pointed out, it's not essential to the 
plot.

>Maybe if someone 
> outside of scholastic were to taunt them saying, "Canadians can do 
it, what 
> makes you think Americans can't?" would have changed their mind 
because now 
> it is a question of pride which I believe is a weak spot. 

WOOOOHOOOO! Somehow I think that would have worked. 

>I think he 
> totally misjudged the capabilities of the American public because 
the way I 
> see it, there isn't that much of a difference between Canadians and 
> Americans except that Americans present themselves as being 
unintelligent - 
> maybe they are, I don't know, but I doubt they are _that_ stupid - 
and maybe 
> Canadians are a little more reserved.

Not unintelligent, but Americans really are pretty clueless about 
what goes on outside their country. This is unfortunate imho because 
they tend to assume the best about everyone else, and fall for any 
imposition other countries try. One of the more harmless being that 
Canadians are very polite and humble. :-) I've had a long experience 
in both countries, and while Canadians will say, "Sorry" to a 
lamppost they ran into, it often is the equivalent of "What the **** 
are you doing?" Canadians are more prone to road-rage, studies have 
shown. There was a story about a year ago in the national newspapers 
that there is a consensus amongst the international diplomatic 
community, that Canada is one of the more arrogant countries in the 
world. I think one French diplomat put it as, "You sit down to dinner 
with a Canadian and they immediately start boasting about their 
health-care system and how they aren't Americans, and acting as if 
you were from some third world country that doesn't measure up to 
Canada." (OK, that's a paraphrase.) In fact, the strong anti-American 
feeling that seems to permeate Canadians would probably shock our 
unwitting neighbours south of the border........  Anyway, I'm a 
Canadian who loves the U.S., and give me the "Ma'ams" you'll get in 
much of the U.S. vs. the "Yous" that you'll get in Canada, any time. 
(Though I still have my reasons for preferring my country.)

> 
>         Anyway, what I loved most about the book was the fact that 
it was 
> British.  In some cases, I had to laugh because the characters 
seemed so, 
> so, British! 

Yes indeed!

>I liked finding out the way they refer to certain 
> things in Britian (or at least England) just like I loved finding 
out that 
> Americans have differen't words for things like 'pop' in Canada on 
a cruise 
> I went on.  The poor boy I was talking to mistook me for 
saying 'pot', as in 
> the drug, until he realised I was pointing to my drink!  

I remember being at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport when I was 9 or so, 
and the lady was saying "soda? soda? soda?" and  was 
thinking, "whiskey and soda?", "soda with your hamburger?" My mother 
finally heard it and said. "Soda is pop."

> I also liked seeing it written with the " 'u' spice " in 
> the word 'flavour'.  It's my little pet-peeve.  I can't understand 
why 
> Americans would drop the 'u' in flavour.  It just doesn't look 
right!

Noah Webster decided that the U.S. needed a different spelling to go 
with their new national identity. Go figure, but I think he will rot 
in hell for all the pain he has given me over the years.

Yours Truly,

Eileen