OOP - US/UK difference spotted
helopookie
helopookie at yahoo.com
Sun Jul 6 04:00:29 UTC 2003
No: HPFGUIDX 67728
--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "serenadust" <jmmears at c...>
wrote:
> I'm in the midst of my 3rd reading (this time the UK version) and I
> came across something that stopped me in my tracks.
>
> A
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> I
> L
> L
> D
> O
> I
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> ?
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> On page 205, Fred and George are telling the trio about the horrors
> of Fifth year and George says: "...If you care about exam results,
> anyway. Fred and I managed to keep our *peckers* up somehow."
>
> I immediately went to check my US version, since I was SURE that
I'd
> have caught that expression if it was there and sure enough it
> reads: "Fred and I managed to keep our *spirits* up somehow."
>
> I'm appealing to the British listmembers to tell me whether the
word
> *pecker* has the same meaning in the UK as it does here in the US.
> If not, then is this an expression in common usage in mixed
company,
> say, in front of the vicar? Otherwise, I'll have to assume that the
> Scholastic editors are protecting tender American sensibilities
from
> Fred & George's salty repartee.
>
> Jo Serenadust, rather amused and VERY glad she got the UK version,
> too
Even though I'm from Minneapolis, I know that "pecker" does not mean
what we in the US think. Though I'm not sure how common the use of
this phrase is, I am reminded of a UK orange juice commercial that
stated "Keeps your pecker up." I also vaguely remember reading a
phrase containing said word in a similar phrase in another novel
(perhaps Douglas Adams?).
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