GOF: US Murder vs UK Curse

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 88097

Berit :
> > 
> > Why on earth has the American Edition been "translated" that way? It 
> > sure makes no sense at all :-) Here's what Rowling wrote (UK Ed):
> > 

bboy_mn:
> 
> What on earth could the US publishers have been thinking? I can only
> concluded that they didn't understand at all what they were reading,
> because the original UK version makes perfect sense. 

We discussed this difference and others differences extensively, when was it? 
Oh, ages ago - it must have been over a year now. In the first four books 
there are quite a number. Some of these (of the jumper = sweater variety) are 
obviously "translations", but I reached the conclusion during that discussion 
that the only logical explanation for others was that they were differences 
resulting from parallel editing processes and that the US editors, who were coming 
in for considerable criticism, were not quite as blame-worthy as they were 
being depicted. JKR makes mistakes, too. ;-)

GOF was published simultaneously in the US and in the UK, so manuscripts 
which still potentially contained errors and which needed final polishing were in 
the hands of both of publishers at the same time. We have an example of an 
authorial error treated differently by the respective publishers in the wand 
order mistake, which got through in first editions of both versions and which was 
subsequently corected by Bloomsbury but not (AFAIK) by Scholastic.

I suggest that "murder" is another such mistake (perhaps the remnant of a 
change in plot?), which was picked up and corrected in the UK, but not in the US. 
Why, I can't imagine. I suspect that the curse scar, which Fudge either had 
or had never heard of acting as a warning, depending on the edition you read, 
is another example of parallel editing.

~Eloise


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