Literature The British English vs American English thread!

I've just re-read the wikipedia article and I think my dyslexia caught me out. :oops: It said the former pronunciation, which would be the lef one, as being the British one... I read it as the former pronunciation being the lew one. Or mixed up former with latter or something like that. :oops:
 
Annia said:
That was my point. :p What about British literature that is published in Americanised versions?
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The HP books are the only ones of which I'm aware of being Americanized. It was probably cost effective because they were such huge sellers.
 
mlp said:
The HP books are the only ones of which I'm aware of being Americanized. It was probably cost effective because they were such huge sellers.
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I think there have been a few more but I can't remember them off the top of my head.

I think what I'm trying to get at in response to your post (my brain works in strange ways, forgive me) is that for a lot of people Harry Potter may be the only British literature that they've read. And if it's been Americanised then they'll struggle with British English. Or something. Blah. I don't know what I'm trying to say anymore. :(
 
We definitely say Lew-ten-ant. As in: Lew-tenant Dan!

I really can't say I speak standard american english. I use quite a few southernisms.
 
Hang on....

To Kill a Mockingbird is American, isn't it? I've just opened up my copy to a random page and one of the words on the page is "honour". Shouldn't it be "honor" if it's an American book?

Oh random house books, you'd better not be changing the American spellings in an American book....

One of the things I really like about one of my favourite authors is his use of American English in one of his series. Bernard Cornwell is British even though he now lives in America (and is an American citizen) and most of his published books in the UK use British English. However, his Starbuck Chronicles which are set in the American Civil War are all in American English. You can't get copies of them in British English because they're set in America, with American characters (well mainly, there is a French character who is actually Sharpe's son) so they're in American English. I love that about them.
 
Many books are published in country-specific versions, though I think it's more common now than it used to be.

When I was younger, reading Douglas Adams books from the library, they were all British. Copies I purchased new, several years later, were only available in American versions.

My copy of Dirk Gently's Detective Agency, which I bought used, has British spelling.

My first-edition Good Omens is British (Adam reads under the covers with a torch), but my friend's later copy is American (he reads under the covers with a flashlight). At one time, I had both versions of American Gods, though I passed my British (softcover) version to my mom and kept my American (hardcover) version.
 
I hate any altered books :(

Like Enid Blyton, I used to really like reading about shillings and then they changed it all to pounds in the new ones.
 
Lord Snot said:
I hate any altered books :(

Like Enid Blyton, I used to really like reading about shillings and then they changed it all to pounds in the new ones.
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Really?

I can't remember if my Blyton books are shillings or pounds. I'll have to take a look at them next time I'm in the loft. (All my children's books are in the loft because there's no space anywhere else for them. Mum wants me to chuck them out. Screw that. )
 
I like to read something the way the author wrote it and not in some other version. I've got the British HP books and the audiobooks read by Stephen Fry (not relevant to the discussion, but Stephen Fry is very freaking cool). If I don't know a word or a spelling, I'll look it up. Hello, I'm the internet and I'll be assisting you today
 
Cerebellion said:
I like to read something the way the author wrote it and not in some other version. I've got the British HP books and the audiobooks read by Stephen Fry (not relevant to the discussion, but Stephen Fry is very freaking cool). If I don't know a word or a spelling, I'll look it up. Hello, I'm the internet and I'll be assisting you today
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:up:

I don't understand why they change it. OK, I can understand translating it into another language but for the differences between American and British English, I don't get it. Some things might not make much sense but I'm sure a small glossary could be included to help explain those few things ( i.e. "broil" vs "grill" ).
 
Cerebellion said:
I like to read something the way the author wrote it and not in some other version. I've got the British HP books and the audiobooks read by Stephen Fry (not relevant to the discussion, but Stephen Fry is very freaking cool). If I don't know a word or a spelling, I'll look it up. Hello, I'm the internet and I'll be assisting you today
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Yes! The Stephen Fry audiobooks are amazing. Sometimes it's difficult to believe it's one man doing all the different voices.
 
I need the HP audiobooks but I can't afford them. I also need the ebooks.

And my library doesn't have the audiobooks. Not that I would borrow them and copy them. No, I wouldn't do that because that's naughty.
 
Annia said:
I need the HP audiobooks but I can't afford them. I also need the ebooks.

And my library doesn't have the audiobooks. Not that I would borrow them and copy them. No, I wouldn't do that because that's naughty.
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They are still ludicrously expensive, total rip off.
 

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