Last updated May 24 Your Email Address:. Index Newest Popular Best. New Player Log In. What's Up With the Title? Vernon Dursley Mrs. Norris Mr. What's Up With the Ending? Tired of ads? Join today and never see them again. Get started. Birds and the bees. Simon Blake, Shrewsbury England Perhaps it was thought that an American readership wouldn't pick up on the mystical connotations of "Philosopher's Stone".
Peadar Mac Con Aonaigh, Brixton, London American kids and parents are far less likely to have heard of the Philosopher's Stone, since like most European myths these are diluted in US education for the very valid reason that American history and myth takes their educational place. They will therefore look at the word without context and it doesn't make sense that way, not in a book about magic. Also the American Hollywood-driven market is producing a generation dependent upon "thrill", and a sorcerer is more compatible with that than a philosopher!
A poll of British children between 9 and 14 four years ago would likely have revealed a similar familiarity with the term 'philosopher's stone. For the benefit of any reader who didn't know what it was, Scrooge explained the theory a supposed stone that turns base metal into gold in the first few panels. Presumably American kids are no longer expected even to pick up a book if they don't understand a word. Typically, Barks' comic was thematically complex: the World Gold Council tried to stop Scrooge finding the stone, for fear he would overuse it and destroy the value of the world's gold stocks; but though Scrooge did find it, he had to give it up when he started turning gold himself.
The comic also dealt with Minos and the labyrinth and medieval pirate routes John, Wellington New Zealand Having worked with American kids for 2 years, I would imagine the thought behind it is that 'philosopher' is too highbrow, and that 'sorcerer' is much more mystical and appealing It was merely changed because it was assumed - quite rightly - that Americans would neither know or care whether the first two Georges were mad or not.
I have no doubt that the connotations of the Philosophers Stone are completely alien to kids in most countries including the UK. In fact recent surveys have shown our youngsters to be every bit as ignorant of recent history as anyone else. It is the merketeers in the US who seem to refuse to accept that popular arts can educate and improve the mind, so as soon as they see any sort of a barrier to instant access they attempt to remove it.
I'm sure very few Americans understood what "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" referred to but it was still a massive success. I think the name change was simply because some suit in a US publishing house decided Philosopher was a hard word and Sorcerer, bathed as it is in the culture of Mickey Mouse, was more accessible. He also gets a few other things like a few pence from his aunt Petunia Dursley and a dazzling sweater from Mrs. Once again, this is simply a Britishism being corrected for a US audience - as in the US, a 'jumper' is a type of sleeveless dress, and it would be very odd for Mrs Weasley to have sent that to Harry!
However, in the UK, a 'jumper' is what Americans would call a 'sweater'. Harry's famous Hogwarts acceptance letter is also written a bit differently in each version. The letter that Hagrid tries so desperately to deliver to Harry comes with his standard acceptance letter signed by McGonagall as well as a list of supplies that he will need for his first year.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone , the "course books" for the Hogwarts Curriculum are referred to as "set books. The books are another cultural difference, although there seems no real reason to shorten 'Professor' in one and not the other! Likewise, the Hogwarts candy cart is called the trolley in the UK version, though, they did choose to keep that verbiage in the US version of the movies as well.
This was likely to give more of a British flair to the language, as it's not a change that would cause confusion. In fact, it wasn't just Dean's description that was cut from the books - Rowling later revealed that he was originally a much bigger part of the story.
This alteration also created an error in the US versions, as Dean's sorting was added in, but the number of students left to be sorted was kept at three, rather than being upped to four. To add further into the Dean Thomas mystery, it wasn't just his name and description that was omitted from the British version of the book.
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