Quote:
Originally Posted by tomsem
It's not possible, working with the watered-down-for-dumb-American-children Harry Potter text to restore the original, as changes aren't restricted to spelling alone. It would be neat if they would include both in the same container, and it were possible to toggle between them. But we must have our regional copyrights it seems.
But doing automatic spelling change is certainly feasible, even if it is a goofy idea. I would not regard it as 'destructive', but perhaps pointless, since it isn't going really an issue with understanding what the text says.
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I wasn't thinking of the case where you are reversing stupid decisions by US publishers of non-US English works. Indeed trying to reverse it is laudable.
But Geo-restriction of books is evil, especially of ebooks. You should be able to buy the unmangled version. So in the case you mention it's not destructive. However I still don't think an automatic spelling changer will work. For example, imagine a book set mostly outside USA and they visit New York. Maybe a guy is a spy and has a convincing accent. So the publisher makes everything American. How do you know which bits to leave as American doing it automatically?
It's not just spellings, but word use.
UK/Ireland -- USA
rubber - eraser
boot (car) - trunk
bonnet - hood (car), or child's hat, or historical a lady's hat
pavement - sidewalk
faggots - sticks or shaped mince (context).
bottom - fanny
fanny - Umm, not the rear!
trousers - pants
tights - pantyhose
stockings. Hmm, depends on context and era. Might mean long socks, or silk/nylon stockings (garters, suspenders, elastic tops) before tights. Tights did exist before the all-in-one nylons.
hose - hose pipe or footless leggings or with feet.
stomacher - a "waist", obsolete garment.
braces (trousers) - suspenders (pants).
braces also are the metal things on teeth
A bracer can be a drink or elongated protective cuff
leggings I - yoga pants. Not actually a recent invention.
leggings II - chapps? The things riders and agricultural workers wear on top of trousers (pants / jeans).
yoga pants - clothing worn while actually doing yoga
waistcoat - vest
vest (underwear: all children, but mostly male adults) - undershirt
Jumper, Pullover, Jersey, Gansey - sweater
Pinafore, pinny (Dress) - jumper?
pants - pants (breath) or lower underwear
silencer (car or gun) = muffler. Some times the gun silencer is called a muffler. In real life the gun is still quite loud.
muffler - a kind of scarf. Muff is for the hands. Sometimes a gun silencer (even on artillery & tanks!)
shuck (Ireland) - ditch
shuck off (UK) - cast off (clothing)
Whiskey = Irish Whiskey in English
Whisky = Whisky made everywhere else in UK.
Brogues, a kind of shoe with punched strips, or in parts of Ireland any shoe.
rubber boots, dunlops, wellies, wellington boots - galoshes
Original Wellington boots leather with knee flap?
A shoe is always below the ankle or else it's a kind of boot.
tackies, gutties, gym shoes, runners, trainers - sneakers
(A sneak is someone that tells tales maliciously, esp to teachers in a school).
And very many words where context matters.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is bizarrely called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the USA.
This is why that is crazy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher%27s_stone
I can't see how without the original you can automatically fix an edition corrupted by a publisher for another market. They've manually changed it. You'd need the original, but then your problem is solved.
I've never read a USA authored text that a publisher has "converted" to British. The words and spellings are always original. Before the Internet I had no idea what a highball, whisky sour or a waist (item of young woman's clothing) was. Even though I worked for a while in Ohio in early 1980s.