Re: Complete list of UK/US Differences for HBP

Mark Evans wrote:

Thomas Madura <Thom-Madura@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


When JKR originally signed for the publication of the books, she chose a British Publisher that did not have an American Publishing arm. SHe sold them the UK rights (Which includes Canada). SHe then chose an AMerican


Canada has not been part of the UK for some time. However there is a
little thing called the North American Free Trade Agreement, to which
Canada, the USA and Mexico are party to.



I did err- Canada is part of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

As far as Nafta - the arrangements for the publishing of the Harry Potter Books were a PERSONAL matter controlled by JKR herself - Nafta had nothing to do with it.



Publisher for the books -we actually have proof that the books are edited separately by the two different publishers. (There is a passage


The books have many publishers, only one insisted on reediting.

The American Version was NOT re-edited. The original manuscripts are supplied to both publishers and edited at the same time ( We know this because at least one passage was edited out of the British version and remained in the AMerican.). Still - this is a result of the arrangements JKR made BEFORE the books were published in the US - and it was HER decision.



in an AMerican Book that is not in the British book.

She alone holds the copyrights to the content of the books, and SHE


Then why do Time-Warner-AOL claim both copyrights and trademarks in
relation to the books?


Because JKR sold them usage rights.

For the book in question, NO ONE OTHER THAN JKR held the rights to the content of the book at the time she went to the publishers.




approved changes to the two versions as edited (WE can be sure that BOTH versions were edited by the independent publishers from the original manuscript).

Among the changes were a number of spelling corrections, use of


Thus implying that Noah Webster was a wizard who feared death :)


Well, you can hardly say that the spelling corrections changed the content of the books - since the words were not changed - colour in English IS color in the US.



correct American Terms where the original British term could be misunderstood (Jumper is a girls Overdress in the US - not a boys sweater - etc) and the change of the title of the first book. Where 


There is a difference between a title change and a text change. It's not
that uncommon for books to have titles changed without any changes being
made to the text. e.g. 0425187721 and 0007109679.

Note that the change was made not just to the title of the first book,
but also to a historical artifact which is mentioned several times in
subsequent books.

And that is why the change had to be made by JKR - she held the copyright to the content. One could have hardly changed the title and left the other "name" in the book.

As far as a historical artifact - the "stone" may have historical meaning - but an artifact it never was. It most certainly was mythological at best.




only a few changes were made in the US editions, virtually ALL of the words were corrected for other language editions - who if you believe


In which case please don't call the language of the Scholastic version
"English", since you are making a comparison with translations into
different languages.

You are implying that there is only one "English" language. That is not even true in England - or Great Britain - or the UK.
However - what I am saying is that JKR made the decision to have an AMerican edited edition without American intervention. While the subsequent American publisher may have made suggestions to her - her copyright meant that the changes had to be made by her alone. As far as I am concerned it was a complete money grab by her. She approved changes that she thought would make the books more marketable in the USA - and as a result SHE made a lot of money.

THe proof of that is that although she now has PLENTY of money which presumably allows her more freedom, she approved changes in ALL the subsequent books as well.




the "dumb american kids" portrayers must be even less intelligent.

The changes made to the US edition recognized the enormous profit potential of the US market and the fact that a US publisher was involved - but those changes were RARE, SMALL, and did little to change the overall feeling of the books when read. ALso note - those changes were


This is disputed by many people, from many countries, not just from
either the US or the UK.



WHo has disputed this? Only one person counts - JKR has not directly disputed it. In fact, she came right out and said that she approved changes that she might have done differently in hindsight.



made by JKR herself - the publisher would not be able to do so without her approval.



Either she made the changes or she approved the changes. It is rather
unlikely she did both.

Actually - it is very likely she did both. (Maybe not with the first book though)

The fact that the books after the first one were simultaneously edited by two different editors - means that some one had to coordinate them. So by approving a change in the UK edition meant that she would have to make that change in the American version.




This subject has been beaten to death in this newsgroup - and those who 


Probably because it continues to be relevent. Especially considering
that there are differences involving all six of the completed books.
Whilst many of these appear to be minor this is not always the case.
Including a difference in the most recently published book.



continue to deride American Children based on a bunch of mostly British slang are just American Bashers who have nothing to support their assertions.



Next will come claims that "American Bashers" drink blood, eat babies
and are also known as "Bogarts".

Anyway if "The Quibbler" carried a story about the richest country on
the planet losing a city in a preventable natural disaster

A preventable natural disaster - sorry - maybe Chuck And Dianna's marrigae would fall into that category - but a category five Hurricane is not yet under the controlling power of any government I know of.


then having
government officials cause more suffering and death by activly getting
in the way of anyone trying to help the survivors everyone would
probably think it was made up...

Maybe instead of whining about "American Bashers" you should be asking
why the US has been looking like a sick joke for the last few years.



Changing the subject - I thought we were talking about a childrens book. IF we are such a sick joke - why did JKR want to publish her book here in the first place.



The US wanting to be different from everyone else is one thing when it
involves spelling words or wanting to rewrite a fictional novel already
written in a language supposedly understood by the majority of the
population.

The correct statement is that JKR wanted to make sure that her book would sell well in the US and she made the decisions regarding the changes BEFORE it was published here and BEFORE the American readers had a chance to be involved. The language understood by the majority of Americans is AMERICAN ENGLISH - not Received Standard English (THe dialect the British version was written in).

I am not saying that he book would not have been understood without the changes. The opposite is probably true. What I am saying is the WE WERE NOT GIVEN THE CHOICE - JKR did it BEFORE it was published here. SHe chose to accomodate our market for material gain - it worked - she is now rich. Remember, the American version of the book was the LARGEST Selling edition of the first book for the first five years of production and the most profitable as well. (These figures were made available at one time - I have not seen them since)


But when the cost of this obsession with doing things
differently is measured in human lives then maybe it's time to rejoin
the rest of the planet.



I think you will find that the Americans have been there helping everyone - including countries who are not allies (like Iran) when disasater has happened. In fact , disaster is one of the few areas where the Planet has worked together.
.

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