Significance of missing line (was: HBP paperback)

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 156183

Ceridwen:
> > I'm US.  I'd never heard of a 'philosopher's stone' except as an
> > interesting side-note that this is what a 'sorcerer's stone' was 
> > called in Britain.  Might be the age of the material I read that 
> > from - long before public internet - or it could be my age.
 
Magpie:
> Really?  Learn something new everyday!  Because the Philosopher's 
> Stone is what the actual thing is called both in the US and in the 
> UK--it's a standard thing in the study of alchemy, and what 
> Nicholas Flamel allegedly did succeed in making.  I'd heard of the 
> Philosopher's Stone as a real object long before Harry Potter came 
> out, which is why the change seemed so odd.  It was like if the 
> original title had been "Harry Potter and the Holy Grail" and they 
> changed it to "Harry Potter and the Holy Goblet" because grail was 
> an unfamiliar word.

SSSusan:
I have a feeling (and it's just a feeling, mind you) that the change 
was made both because few Americans were familiar with the 
term "Philosopher's Stone" and especially because even fewer 
American CHILDREN would have heard of it.  I mean, Scholastic was 
definitely marketing these books to children here in the U.S., at 
least books one through three, right?  I think they were concerned 
about 8- or 10-year-olds in America knowing what a Philosopher's 
Stone was.  

Yeah, it might make us Americans sound "stupider," but I think it's 
true that if your average American (ha! what's that?) -- pre-HP era, 
anyway -- were presented with the term "philosopher's stone," s/he 
would most likely just think of names of some philosophers, such as  
Descartes, Kant, Plato or Kierkegaard, and wonder where a stone fit 
in. :-) I'm sure some would know of the alchemical reference, but I 
don't think the majority would.

Maybe that's NOT true and my fellow Americans on the list will rise 
up to say, "You're nuts!!  I knew, and everyone I know knew, what 
a 'philosopher's stone' was!"  But I am going on an assumption here 
that there is perhaps more discussion of/education about alchemy in 
the UK than in the US.  Am I wrong?

In the end, man, do I ever wish they'd stuck with "Philosopher's 
Stone" for the title in the US.  Partly because it's the accurate 
term in the UK & as JKR wrote it, and we Americans can *learn* new 
terminology (sheesh), but also because the truth is, if the US 
release had had the title "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's 
Stone," the right-wing, fundamentalist Christians would have 
probably IGNORED the whole thing!  It was the use of the 
word "Sorcerer's" -- thereby bringing in the concept of sorcery and 
(in some people's minds) the occult -- that raised red flags for 
those groups.  

IMHO, of course.

Magpie: 
> I can't remember--do they change the name of the stone in the 
> movie?

SSSusan:
Indeed, they did.  It's "sorcerer's stone" throughout the movie.  
For those of you in the UK or Canada or elsewhere that there was an 
English-language release, did the actors have an alternate track or 
dub in which they said "philosopher's stone," or was it "sorcerer's 
stone" no matter where the movie was released?  (I mean, I know the 
*title* was "philosopher's" elsewhere, but within the actual 
dialogue?)

Heh, the Shorty Elf side of me knows this is bordering on needing to 
go to the Movie list <g>, so if anyone wants to reply only about the 
movie dialogue... you might want to take it on over to HPfGU-Movie [ 
http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-Movie/ ]

Siriusly Snapey Susan