UK vs. US

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 170529

Shelley:
> I don't think it had anything to do at all about 
anyone "understanding" what certain words meant, but it's a 
convenient excuse to keep the markets separate, is it not?

Ceridwen:
That's true for adults, but the books, PS/SS and CoS especially, are 
for a children's market.  Children know a lot, but if the author 
started saying that the walls have skirts (baseboards: US), they may 
not want to try and find a British to American dictionary on-line, 
they'll just imagine the walls wearing women's clothing.  They might 
have a good laugh at calling a "stove" a "cooker", too.

I was thirteen when I first read Sherlock Holmes.  This is both a 
time and place difference, but I thought Holmes and Watson walked 
around London holding hands, because they went "in a hansom".  Yes, I 
did learn that it's a type of cab, after several years.  That's why a 
lot of "Classics" have footnotes, to explain differences of time 
(Lydia got a fish?  Phew!).

And, confess, when the books started calling pull-over 
sweaters "jumpers", how many people flashed to little dresses made to 
wear over blouses?  Even if you know what the author's talking about, 
the mental images can yank you right out of the story if they're 
foreign enough.  Who wants to stop reading in the middle of a good 
part just to check some on-line dictionary?

Ceridwen.