British V American

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 101810

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Mandy" <ExSlytherin at a...> 
wrote:

Mandy:
> I would love to know which of you are British?  I'm a Brit who has 
> lived in the US for 15 years. I read the American versions first, 
> loved them! Including the illustrations!  But this year I got the 
> British editions for the first time.
> 
> I feel there is a very big difference.  But I'm not sure if I can 
> explain what it is.  
> 
> It feels to me, as I'm reading the UK books, that I am more at 
home.  
> Some how more comfortable and the story fits in my memory and my 
> perception of the UK easier.  The language sits on my tongue better 
> too.  There aren't big changes, but many small, subtle, little ones 
> that make up to a big difference that is very subtle.  

Geoff:
Following up Mandy's comment, one thing which I personally find with 
American books is that I often feel that I'm in a different culture 
because of the spelling - the substitution of "z" for "s" in, 
say, "realise" and the dropping of the "u" in a word like "colour". I 
don't find the replacing of words such as lift/elevator, 
saloon/sedan, boot/trunk too jarring, strangely enough. Bearing in 
mind that JKR is English and wrote initially for an English audience, 
I feel that the Americanising of the text probably damages the 
English (or UK) ambience of the story. After all, do you have 
American versions of Shakespeare or Dickens?