"Never" - A Cursed Scar

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 97179

bboy_mn wrote:
> 
> Has anyone ever check the various foriegn and domestic versions of
the books to see it this has ever been corrected? 
> 
> The problem with the quote above is that the word 'never' has such a
> logical presents in Fudge's statement that I read the word even though
> it wasn't there. I wonder if the copy editors did the same thing?
> 
> That's one of the problems with trying to proofread my own work. I
> know so deeply and thoroughly what it is /suppose/ to say that that's
> what I read whether it is actually there or not.
> 
> As, I pointed out before, the word 'never' so needs to be there that
> my brain just placed it there. 
> 
> Just curious.

Steve, I thought you had the American edition, which (as someone
pointed out earlier) *does* have the word "never" (our American editor
on her toes again :-) ). To repeat what someone else said, the
American edition has: "You'll forgive me, Dumbledore, but I've never
heard of a curse scar acting as an alarm bell before. . ." (706).

I imagine, though, that JKR herself, her British editor, and the
British proofreader all did exactly as you describe, mentally
supplying a word that needs to be there for the passage to make sense.
I would hope that JKR became aware of it when she checked the
corrections for the American edition (she should have checked both
manuscript and proofs--some authors do it diligently, some slack off,
some are too pressed for time to do it properly. JKR could well be in
the third category). I would hope, though, that this particular
correction is on her list of "musts" for the revised editions that
will surely follow closely on the heels of volume 7. 

Another correction that should be made but wasn't is the order of the
spells when Harry retells the graveyard incident to Dumbledore and
Sirius: "He could see Cedric emerging, the old man, Bertha
Jorkins...his father...his mother..." (p. 696). When she revised the
order of the echoes in the main scene, she apparently forgot to fix
that scene as well, at least in the American edition.

Wonder how much she'd pay us to help her find these little errors and
inconsistencies? With my luck, it would be in leprechaun gold. . . .

Carol, curious to see how she'll deal with "Sirius his motorbike" in
the revised edition of SS/PS