Need Quote: Help with Sirius's Motorcyle - More

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 92951

Geoff:
My hardback UK edition, which is dated 1999 on the info page and 
which I bought last autumn has "get this bike away".
  
"Give Sirius his bike back" and "Give Sirius' bike back" would both 
be acceptable Britishisms.
 
Carol:
Right. Britishisms or Briticisms, but not Americanisms. My point is
that the American editor is unlikely to be responsible for the 
change
to "Give Sirius his bike back" because it's not American English, 
and
if it were the British editor's change
> <snip>
> 
> 
> Neri:
> From the data we have so far, it appears that pre-2000 UK editions 
> have "get this bike away" and post-2000 UK editions have "I'll be 
> takin' Sirius his bike back", while all US editions (even pre-2000) 
> have "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back ". 
> 
> Since it is now established that "get this bike away" is not just a 
> mistake in my you-know-what version, I'll hazard a theory how the US 
> edition came to be the first to come out with a correction that was 
> later adopted also by the UK version (is this a heavy blow to British 
> patriotism?). My guess is that the original manuscript by JKR had 
> indeed "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back". The editor thought that 
> it would be distractive for the reader to mention twice a character 
> that (so he thought at the time) has no role whatsoever in the plot 
> of the book, so he removed the second mention of the name, and JKR 
> hadn't had enough authority to object at the time. Remember that it 
> was then the first book of an unknown writer and nobody but JKR knew 
> that there are meticulous plans for 6 additional books.
>  
> Next, JKR perhaps had the first chance to correct this wrong if she 
> was asked to proofread the "translation" to american before it was 
> published, and during this proofreading she managed to sneak in the 
> second mention of Sirius' name.
> 
> Then she was probably asked to proofread the first UK edition in 
> order to correct mistakes for the next UK edition, and by 2000 she 
> had enough authority to add the second mention of Sirius in the UK 
> version also.
> 
> I agree that JKR probably wanted to mention Sirius twice so the 
> reader will remember the name for the next books. As for the future 
> importance of Sirius' motorcycle to the plot, however, I can't see 
> how this detail changes anything. In both cases Hagrid had the bike 
> and we don't know what did he do with it.
> 
> Neri

Pretty good theory, though as a professional editor I know that even a
new author has the right to accept or reject the copyeditor's
corrections. Maybe JKR didn't realize that at the time, or maybe she
wasn't really meticulous in checking the edited manuscript. At any
rate, I do agree that "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back" probably
was her original wording, which she somehow managed to restore after
about twenty printings of the U.K. paperback, but not in time,
apparently, for the U.K. hardback. It's good to know that the American
edition (apparently) got *something* right. 

I still think the confusion over "lending" the motorcycle to Hagrid
(SS/PS) vs. "giving" it to him (PoA) could prove important, if only to
establish that Hagrid's memory is unreliable. I'd like to know what
really happened between those two at Godric's Hollow, but chances are
we'll never know.

Carol