Jo,

Yes, maverick sent me the books, thanks. I mentioned it in a different thread, I think.

I've read the third and am working on the fourth book in the UK edition. I don't have US copies of those so I haven't compared them. I've not had time yet to reread the first two. I have a harder time justifying not doing homework for a book I've read once than for one I haven't.

I have not noticed a single occurrence of metric units in the UK version, much to my surprise. Shows you how little I actually know about some things.

Football is used where an American would say soccer. Sherbet Lemon has been Americanized to Lemon Drop in book 1. It's terribly interesting to look at the two editions of the book together and see what the editors thought we wouldn't get. In most cases, the original is much richer than the edited. There have only been a few phrases that I was only able to guess the meaning from context from books 3 and 4. I'm really looking forward to sitting down and reading the two ed's side by side for comparison. Aah, if I only had more time...

Vast numbers of words are spelled differently. I had no idea that there was that much difference. I realise now how extensively other books by British authors have been edited as well. It makes me feel the need to apologize for the hubristic attitude we (US'ns) have, sometimes without even realising it.