GOF: US Murder vs UK Curse

[muscatel1988]

No: HPFGUIDX 88099

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:

> --- Quote Goblet of Fire - Am Ed - HB - pg 10 ---
> "My Lord, I must speak!" said Wormtail, panic in his voice now. "All
> through or journey I have gone over the plan in my head -- My lord,
> Bertha Jorkins's disappearance will not go unnoticed for long, and 
> if we proceed, if *I* (my emphasis) murder --"
> 
> "If?" whispered the second voice. "/If/? If you follow the plan,
> Wormtail, the Ministry need never know that anyone else has died. 
> You will do it quietly and without fuss; I only wish that I could 
> do it myself, but in my present conditions... Come, Wormtail, one  
> one more death and our path to Harry Potter is clear. I am not 
> asking you to do it alone. By that time, my /faithful/ servant will 
> have rejoined us--"

GoF, UK Ed.  PB.  pp14-5.
   'My Lord, I must speak!' said Wormtail, panic in his voice 
now.  'All through our journey I have gone over the plan in my head - 
my Lord, Bertha Jorkins's disappearance will not go unnoticed for 
long, and if we proceed, if I curse -'
   'If?' whispered the second voice.  '/If/? If you follow the plan, 
Wormtail, the Ministry need never know that anyone else has 
disappeared.  You will do it quietly and without fuss; I only wish 
that I could do it myself, but in my present condition...come, 
Wormtail, one more obstacle removed and our path to Harry Potter is 
clear.  I am not asking you to do this alone.  By that time, 
my /faithful/ servant will have rejoined us - '

> -- continuing - GoF -Am Ed HB - pg 12 --
> "One more murder ...my faithful servant at Hogwarts ...Harry Potter 
> is as good as mine, Wormtail. It is decided. There will be no more
> argument. Be quiet... I think I hear Nagini..."

GoF, UK Ed.  PB.  p16.
   'One more curse...my faithful servant at Hogwarts...Harry Potter 
is as good as mine, Wormtail.  It is decided.  There will be no more 
argument.  But quiet...I think I hear Nagini...'

Hope this helps, Steve.  

I must say, I find it rather baffling that the US version 
has "murder" here instead of "curse" (forgive me if this has been 
exhaustively discussed here before - this is my first post, and I 
haven't been lurking that long).  "Murder" implies a moral judgement, 
and surely Voldemort would regard the death of Harry, for example, as 
a necessary act.  "Curse", on the other hand, in my reading of the HP 
universe, is simply a technical term, like "charm" or "jinx".  In the 
same way, while US "one more death" is admittedly neutral in the 
first quote, the UK version's "one more obstacle removed", to my ear, 
better suits Voldemort's utilitarian tone.

I was aware, in a vague way, of some difference between the US and UK 
versions - "bangs" for "fringe", "Mom" for "Mum" and that sort of 
lexical thing - but these differences are of a different order.

As to whose death is the second referred to, I'm interested to hear 
your thoughts.

Mus