Hello!
What is there a difference between the US and UK editions? I mean, did the book go through an adaptation like the Harry Potter series, or are the differences only in the design?
I want to buy The Well of Lost Plots now, and since I can't find it in the bookstores around, I'm wondering what edition to order.

I think they're pretty much the same. I've read both versions, and didn't find any differences except in Lost in a Good Book with the contest winners, and that was by design. Buy whichever copy you can get the quickest.

Thanks. It's just that in Harry Potter they changed stuff like Lorry to Truck and stuff, and I'd hate to miss those.

I'm sure Jasper wouldn't mind if you ordered both. And the publishers would LOVE it... ;)

Well, my copy of WOLP does have a chapter at the end that says it is "Exlusive to the US Edition" but that could just be Jasper's joke?

No, that was because at the time the books were coming out 6 months apart, and so some americans would buy the uk version baceause they couldn;t wait. The extra chapter was to get americans to buy the us version as well. Right after that, the books started coming out 2 weeks apart.

Thanks slightcap for the info. I had wondered about that...

I think they should just leave the prose alone! Do they think Americans can't understand UK English or something? I can convert American spelling and stuff to Aus English in my head, I don't want the text to be changed.
If I could read the original in another language even, I would!

It must be hard to do translations. Image translating A Clock Work Orange! That would be impossible.

Welcome Ilya. Have some pie.

All my pies are multi-lingual and can be eaten in English or American.

Others are parochial and spell everything with u and use mm even if it's a waste of good letters.

The difference is that they are printed in different languages.

English:

is irrational; is the assimilation of three major language groups, plus anything else which is (a) useful (b) catchy (c) may come in handy later (d) misheard or mistranslated (e)corrupted; and in no way intent on standardisation or eliminating redundancies; and ever evolving;

while American:

is all the above plus the Monk's factor of some do-gooders who try to eliminate the character and richness of the original English of King George III's time; and devolving.

Any culture which replaces the richness and subtlety of :'continue','continuing', 'continuous', and ''continual' with 'ongoing' should be closed down immediately or placed in isolation until they can appreciate the beauty of language. Either that or starty using hieroglyphics.

And I hate 'prioritise'!

While I agree about the dreadfulness of 'ongoing', is there a concise replacement for 'prioritise'?

Neither is as bad as synergistically.

And to be fair, it was big business that really butchered the language, not Merka.

BK, I agree wholeheartedly. The next time some B.A. looks me in the eye and tells me to "think outside the box" I may finally crack for good and all. Be prepared to lend me the pointy stick?

As Kitten says, big businesses are probably the biggest language butchers, but the military (and, hence, governments) were first. What they have in common is the need to describe something that they don't really want to talk about or describe accurately at all.

Vertical troop insertion (parachute drops); pacifying the enemy (killing lots of the enemy); under friendly fire (killing your own troops); civilian population displacement (napalming their village); and the ever-popular Stalinist/ Mao favorite, "re-education" (jail for life; though since big business has privatised the jails, these are now "detainment facilities") are but a few now nearing, or celebrating, 50th birthdays.

Australian governments have had the bug for a few years of renaming (often with obscure and complex titles which no-one remembers) policies and laws which don't work, or which are unpopular. When asked a question which involves the old name, they will happily relate, "Oh! That doesn't exist anymore!" and insist that a new name creates a completely new kettle of fish. Policies which are unpopular invariably got that way, not because they stank from the first, but because they weren't "sold" properly.

I think that Lorry is the funniest word ever, and if I have a chance to read a book that might have it inside, I won't pass it.

hmmm. pointy sticks and kettle of fish. haven;t seen much of either of those around here lately.

"Lorry" is derived from "lurry" - an old but not ancient English word meaning to pull or haul; it is pretty funny. Lorries wouldn't be half as funny if we called them 'lurries'. Though they would probably crop up in poetry a lot more often because you could rhyme them better with actions like hurry, scurry, flurry, etc, instead of boring words like sorry, quarry or estuary (if you say it with a plum in your mouth).

Interestingly enough, as I quickly looked this up in my MacQuarie, I happenstanced upon "lost time allowance", as in a payment made to an employee as part of an award. Could this be a rogue expression (doing a runner, in its own little way) from a Spec Ops manual and hiding in the dictionary of English as she is spoke in Oz?

These ruminations have been brought to you as an entry in the "most boring post" competition.

I think that the major diffence between the U.K. and U.S. editions is that one is priced in sterling and the other in dollars.

I don't know how they are priced in Stirling, but suspect that a label gun is involved.

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My computer beat me at chess, but I won at kickboxing

I think Robert deserves a small prize for that effort!


(You know it's time for a change of government, when they give their more unfriendly laws BrandNames (tm) )