Re: So it is true...

Seán O'Leathlóbhair wrote:
>
> *** T. Winter wrote:
> > In article <439455EE.5FB5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> > > Seán O'Leathlóbhair wrote:
> > > > *** T. Winter wrote:
> > > > > In article <1133777483.827286.191030@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> "=?iso-8859-1?B?U2XhbiBPJ0xlYXRobPNiaGFpcg==?=" <jwlawler@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
> > > > > ...
> > > > > > Some parents may want one
> > > > > > to help explain Harry Potter to their children. "Dad, what's a
> > > > > > lorry?", "Don't know son, some limey thing".
> > > > >
> > > > > Only if they read the UK edition, which is unlikely. The books have been
> > > > > translated to US English.
> > > >
> > > > I know that the first book was translated and this seemed
> > > > controversial. I remember a long thread on the subject (probably in
> > > > alt.english.usage). If I remember correctly, the majority opinion from
> > > > both sides of the Atlantic was that the translation was excessive.
> > >
> > > It allegedly went beyond translation to revision. In particular,
> > > changing "Philosopher's Stone" to "Sorcerer's Stone" is especially
> > > egregious.
> >
> > What I found most egregious was the introduction of a person in the
> > American edition that was not present in the British edition. Dean
> > Thomas, who was black. And more so because the introduction made
> > surrounding text incorrect. To quote:
> > And now there were only three people left to be sorted.
> > <inserted text>
> > "Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the

Is "Black" capitalized???? I'm not going to run upstairs to hunt for the
scene and check ...

> > Gryffindor table.
> > </inserted text>
> > and after that follow "Turpin, Lisa", "Weasley, Ron" and "Zabini, Blaise".
> > Can't count to four?
>
> Dean Thomas sounds a familiar name. Are you sure that he is not in the
> UK edition? He may just have been added to this scene. I don't recall
> any explicit mention of skin colour in the UK editions, I would expect
> that this was deliberate. Some characters have names which suggest
> that they are not white but I don't think that this is confirmed in the
> text. I will try to find some time in the next few days to check. I

There is a pair of South Asian (Brit: Asian; PI: Indian; rude: Paki)
sisters, and Harry's love-interest (I won't be reading vol. 6 until the
paperback, so don't tell me whether he ever actually gets up the nerve
to approach her) has a Chinese name.

> also have the first book in French and Spanish, I will see how they
> treat this scene. The American editors may have felt the need to
> confirm that there are some black pupils. I would guess that the
> author deliberately left this unclear, the reader can imagine as many,
> or as few, black pupils as he wishes. If you label one as black then
> it may suggest that all the others are white. If you never mention
> skin colour then any proportion of black pupils is possible.
>
> > > More of a concern, though, is that they have celebrations of "Christmas"
> > > and "Easter" with no other indication that they are a Christian
> > > society/institution.
> >
> > Howsat? I have also celebrations of Christmas and Easter, but I am not
> > Christian at all. In Europe celebrations of Christmas and Easter are
> > quite common but are (in general) disconnected from the Christian
> > beliefs. And I think that is also true in the US.
>
> It is certainly like that here.

Is either of you a wizard, witch, or sorcerer?

US Easter is not a commercial event, except for Easter Bunnies with
baskets, which contain candy and colorful hardboiled eggs, which are
hidden and searched for.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@xxxxxxx
.

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