I’m currently reading Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr. The copy I have is the UK edition. Although the story is really good so far, I find it jarring that HarperCollins found it necessary to Britishise so many American terms. For example, ‘Mom’ has been changed to ‘Mum’, and ‘chips’ are ‘crisps’. What’s up with that? Given that the book is clearly set in the US, it detracts from the authenticity of the story when an American character refers to her ‘Mum’. Frankly, it makes me wince. It makes absolutely no sense to change theses terms and I have to wonder why they bother.
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I never even noticed when I was reading Melissa’s book the abundance of British terms. You have a great point because it takes place in the US. I wonder if there was a book set in England, would they Americanize terms? Perhaps Melissa did this on purpose?
I’ve read far too many novels set in England (especially historicals) with Americanisms in it to have toooo much sympathy. But in general, yes, this is also a pet peeve of mine.
Hey, consider the possibility that all the Mums in this book are real American Mums. My mother was a Mummy, and I have a cousin who battles to this day to be a Mum. (She’s losing — “mom” is so ubiquitous that her kids call her that regardless. She just knows it’s wrong! The worst part was Mother’s Day, where all the cards refer to Mom — I would use white-out (“Tip-x”) to make the O into a U.
But yes, okay, there’s no reason in this global economy to assume people don’t know that an American eating potato chips is leaving crumbs and doesn’t know what to do with the malt vinegar!
@katiebabs You probably read the US edition of ‘Ink Exchange’. I’m assuming Leslie eats chips and refers to her mom in that one! I noticed the differences because my copy of ‘Wicked Lovely’ is the US trade paperback edition. When I ordered ‘Ink Exchange’ and ‘Fragile Eternity’ from Amazon Germany, the UK editions were significantly cheaper, so I went with them.
@Kat My fist experience of publishers changing words across the Atlantic was the Babysitters Club series when I was a kid. I’d bought the first few titles in the US before they were released in the UK and Ireland. When I bought the UK editions of later titles, they’d changed ‘Mom’ to ‘Mum’ and substituted the original American slang with British phrases. As the books were still set in Connecticut, it was a bit strange.
@Magdalen That’s a possibility but there were no obviously British terms used in the US edition of ‘Wicked Lovely’, so I’m assuming the UK branch of HarperCollins chose to alter Marr’s original text. Apparently, the Harry Potter books were also changed significantly for the American market.
@Sarah Significant being the title of the first book: The Philosopher’s Stone (UK) vs The Sorcerer’s Stone (US). So I wouldn’t be surprised if the content was changed a bit, too. I’m glad they kept the original for the films.
I grew up reading American English until I was about 10, and it took me a while to be comfortable with the different spelling. (My addiction to Sweet Dreams didn’t help!) I remember my English teacher in high school correcting my use of “gray”. Now, when I read romances with Aussie characters, I always watch out for Americanisms, like “off of”, and then I’m like, Ha! That’s not a real Aussie!
I have read both the US and UK versions of at least one Harry Potter, but the changes were relatively minor and unobtrusive (other than the title ). Trash can = rubbish bin; booger = bogey (a helpful changes, as not many Americans would have understand what bogey meant there!); etc.
You know, I’m completely oblivious to these things. I read the UK edition of Wicked Lovely and I swear I didn’t notice any of these.
However, Americanisms in English historical romances do jar somewhat. Especially pants when referring to trousers.
And when I read books by Australian authors, I do normally notice Australian slang and/or word usage (Keri Arthur and Justine larbalestier spring to mind as examples).
@Magdalen We don’t use “bogey” in Australia, either, but it was easy enough to figure it out. I wish editors would trust us more. (Or is it that readers really just couldn’t be bothered looking up a new word to find out what it means?)
That’s interesting. Part of me finds it comforting that the English change American books to be more “English,” since we change British books to be more “American” (i.e., Harry Potter). Another part of me is just confused, though. I especially agree with your statement about how it detracts from the authenticity–especially since writers spend so much time trying to make the voices of their characters authentic to the places where they live.
@Kat My mother is American and many of the books I had as a kid were bought in the US. Maybe that’s why changing words or phrases bothers me so much as I’m used to dealing with both British and American spelling.
@Li Yes to the pants references! Also pantyhose instead of tights. Fine for an American character, not for a British one.
@Magdalen Still, American kids know the books are set in England so surely they can figure out what a rubbish bin is. Maybe a glossary at the beginning would be a good idea. Then again, perhaps I assume too much as I’m used to both British and American English phrases.
@heidenkind It was changing ‘Mom’ to ‘Mum’ that really irritated me as it was completely unnecessary. I’m willing to bet every British kid knows American kids usually refer to their mothers as ‘Mom’.
the exact same thing happened to me while reading Emma Holly’s Velvet Glove. It was set in the US but had British spelling and things like “Mum” as well so I erroneously assumed the author was British. But it was just published by a British publishing house. The non-american words really jerked me out of the story.
@Lusty Reader Whatever about differences in spelling, I think the original words are essential to the authenticity of the story. If I read a book set in another country, I don’t expect the characters to speak they same way I do. (Just hopped over to your blog and saw you read ‘Practice Makes Perfect’ by Julie James. It’s one of my favourite books so far in 2009.)
I absolutely hate it when American books are Anglicized or British books are Americanized. Keep the text the way it was written to maintain the story’s authenticity. This happens less in other ethnic fiction. In an Indian novel the mother will be Amma, NOT ‘Mom’!! If necessary, a glossary can be used to define region-specific words for an international audience.
Yes!