The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by Elizabeth Knowles (Editor) went on sale yesterday in the Mother County. Amazon.com says it will be available in the American Colonies in December! What rot!! Anybody seen a copy? Am I justified in being exercised about this?

not only that, but it seems a horrid ripoff of Brewer's DoP&F...

Well it makes a change. We have to wait up to six months for some films, sometimes only a few of the films that are up for Oscars have already been released here.

I suppose they have to spent a little time "correcting" all the spellings for the American audience. You can always buy a copy from Amazon.co.uk and correct the spellings yourself. If you really, really, really want one - I'll post it to you.

>I suppose they have to spent a little time "correcting" all the spellings for the American audience.

Shirley, publishing houses must have automated that process by now? so that it's just a matter of having two proof-readers?

automated that process
Well, this fresh in from Michael Quinion seems germane (or should that be German, aenigma?):

5. Beyond Words
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This month's _Ansible_ science-fiction newsletter from the totally
inimitable David Langford (see http://www.ansible.co.uk/) has this
gem: "Dept of Upelevatoring Insights. Andrew Wheeler of the (US) SF
Book Club confides: 'When we saw the manuscript of Neil Gaiman's
_Neverwhere_, it had obviously been the victim of a perfunctory
search-and-replace Americanization, since characters were always
saying things "apartmently".'"

“WORLD WIDE WORDS is copyright (c) Michael B Quinion 2000.”
http://www.worldwidewords.org

_, it had obviously been the victim of a perfunctory
search-and-replace Americanization, since characters were always
saying things "apartmently".


Beautiful! Now, if I'm feeling a litle apartment, or my singing is apartment, I can look out across the apartment blue sea, and savour a nice apartment white!

I notice a reference to the "translation" of Harry Potter in the World Wide Words site that you mention, Mav.

One night I received a late night (for me) message from AnnaStrophic. She had got to the part where Harry And Hagrid were sitting by the fireside. I had mentioned in a post around that time that I had never seen an "English muffin" until I went to the USA, yet here was Harry eating English muffins! She asked me to check out my UK edition. I raced upstairs, crept past sleeping children to find the book by my daughter's bedside. I found the page in question and there was Harry Potter, sitting with Hagrid, eating ... crumpets. English muffins really doesn't give anything like the same upelevating image!

crept past sleeping children to find the book by my daughter's bedside...

Yeah, I bet Now when is the wider public going to cotton on to something more valuable than 'Bunter on Broomsticks' - say, the Dark Materials Trilogy, for example?

That actually has some interesting ideas and a far more creative flow of language...

Mav

I've just started it (Pullman's trilogy), what with the recent publicity and all. Am about two fifths of the way through. Good stuff. But please don't knock Harry Potter, who is a darned sight better than Bunter on Broomsticks...

cheer

the sunshine warrior

please don't knock Harry Potter

But that's what the English do best! No, you are right - it's alright, but perhaps not worth the extraordinary attention given it?

PS: If either my wife or daughter saw my comment, it would doubtless confirm their assumption that I am a lesser form of life only recently emerged from some swamp

but perhaps not worth the extraordinary attention given it?

Maybe. But in this iron age, with the gold, silver and bronze vanished, we have to make do with whatever gleams, be it however so dully. I can remember being disappointed with LA Confidential and The Usual Suspects, though the critics behaved as if they were better than sex. That's when I recognised the dearth of stuff around that can really provoke enthusiasm...

In reply to:

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though the critics behaved as if they were better than sex

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Perhaps this tells us something about the critics' sex lives?

Bingley