Two versions of the same book available in Libby

[theducks]

I prefer they leave the book in the original version of English (Authors country).
On the rarer case of puzzlement, My Kobo dictionary shows the meaning for the coded language (en-GB) .

[Quoth]

I still haven't figured USA "shirt waist" despite Internet search. I thought it died out about 80 years ago in USA novels, but it's in a 1985-ish one I'm reading.

Still not too sure about USA "preppy". Seems associated with 3rd level?

Why is a girl/woman student a co-ed? A co-educational school has boys and girls. I never heard of a 3rd level female student being called a co-ed.

I was in a USA "drugstore" and beforehand I thought it was USA equivalent word for a Chemist aka Pharmacy shop, which only has personal hygiene, cosmetics, prescription free medicine and a dispensary counter for prescription only medicines. If it in a shopping centre (USA Mall), only one such place will have a dispensary counter for prescription only medicines and usually only one supermarket. Some don't allow any food in other stores.
A USA Drugstore seems like a General store and pharmacy. Also no shop has a counter to consume food & beverages unless it's got a separate café area. Maybe decades ago Boots (UK) had non-pharmacy items.

So apart from the language there is context & culture.

I was reading a mystery - detective series set in London and most of the posher places had "mud rooms", an expression almost never used. Then the person put on satellite radio while driving. There is no such service in British Isles, maybe not in Europe. It's American. So I checked. An American author enamoured with England.

Then there are things we don't have at all, or not seen till last week (s'mores). Older USA books (pre-1930s) are a bit more baffling at times than newer ones, part due to TV & Movies and partly the USA language changing.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I still haven't figured ...

Cool story brother, tell me some more.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by theducks

I prefer they leave the book in the original version of English (Authors country).
On the rarer case of puzzlement, My Kobo dictionary shows the meaning for the coded language (en-GB) .

So for UK authors, that would be mid-5th century English. And for US authors, that would be whatever the English was back when in 1776.

[Quoth]

There is no English of mid 5th C.*
Even English of 14th C (Chaucer) is barely readable compared to late 15th C.
The first Old English literature dates from the mid-7th century and British English readers wouldn't be able to read it.

The current edition of the King James Bible isn't the original and a lot of people would have difficulty with 17th C. Shakespeare.

English in the Americas didn't change that much between 16th & 18th C and was very diverse. It changed a lot in 1840s due to Noah Webster's prescriptive Dictionary and his obsession with his spelling rather than actual usage. In contrast the Oxford English Dictionary was not prescriptive and reflects usage.

So USA English is largely a 19th C. invention by one man and British English drifted along with changes and still does.


EDIT
[* Anglo-Saxon in "Angle-Land" (-> England, imagine if Saxon the dominant, SaxLand or Sexland) starts in the 7th C. and drifts. Massive changes after 1066 and the Normans, who didn't speak ordinary French and added "Qu" spelling and "-our" endings etc. Noah Webster deliberately suppressed Norman influence in English and changed US spelling. Amazing Webster didn't change Queen to Kwean etc.]

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

There is no English of mid 5th C.*
Even English of 14th C (Chaucer) is barely readable compared to late 15th C.
The first Old English literature dates from the mid-7th century and British English readers wouldn't be able to read it.

The current edition of the King James Bible isn't the original and a lot of people would have difficulty with 17th C. Shakespeare.

English in the Americas didn't change that much between 16th & 18th C and was very diverse. It changed a lot in 1840s due to Noah Webster's prescriptive Dictionary and his obsession with his spelling rather than actual usage. In contrast the Oxford English Dictionary was not prescriptive and reflects usage.

So USA English is largely a 19th C. invention by one man and British English drifted along with changes and still does.


EDIT
[* Anglo-Saxon in "Angle-Land" (-> England, imagine if Saxon the dominant, SaxLand or Sexland) starts in the 7th C. and drifts. Massive changes after 1066 and the Normans, who didn't speak ordinary French and added "Qu" spelling and "-our" endings etc. Noah Webster deliberately suppressed Norman influence in English and changed US spelling. Amazing Webster didn't change Queen to Kwean etc.]

@theducks did say he wanted the original version of English based on if the author was from the UK or US. Just because it would be very hard to read is not the point. The point is that the English we have today in the UK and US is not the original English.

[Quoth]

Old English: 8th C. to early 11th C.
Middle English: Early 11th C. to 15th C.
^^^ Only Scholars read that. Most people can't read any of that.

British English Novels: Essentially 18th to today. Robinson Crusoe 1716, Pamela by Samuel Richardson 1740.

@theducks did say he wanted the original version of English based on if the author was from the UK or US.

Pretty much only stuff since 18th C. has a British and USA English distinction.
Unless it's a modern "translation" /"paraphrase so this was a nonsense comment.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So for UK authors, that would be mid-5th century English. And for US authors, that would be whatever the English was back when in 1776.

US English is a 19th C. invention by Noah Webster. In fact there are very few American novels before the 19th C.

James Fenimore Cooper started writing in about 1820* and is regarded as the first significant USA novelist. I very much enjoyed "The Pilot".

The vast bulk of USA literature is since Webster!

[* 44 years after Independence?]

Edit:
And was there any North American English literature before the era of Modern English (late 15th C.)?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I was reading a mystery - detective series set in London and most of the posher places had "mud rooms", an expression almost never used.

Then the person put on satellite radio while driving. There is no such service in British Isles, maybe not in Europe. It's American. So I checked. An American author enamoured with England.

You can't get SirusXM service over there? It does take a XM equipped Radio (and you can get tabletop models) and it (dozens of stations) is transmitted from orbit.
The need is probably a bit more in North America as we have many miles where there is no/little Radio stations (or people).

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

@theducks did say he wanted the original version of English based on if the author was from the UK or US. Just because it would be very hard to read is not the point. The point is that the English we have today in the UK and US and not the original English.

OK. I only read modern (>1950) Authors these days.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by theducks

You can't get SirusXM service over there? It does take a XM equipped Radio (and you can get tabletop models) and it (dozens of stations) is transmitted from orbit.
The need is probably a bit more in North America as we have many miles where there is no/little Radio stations (or people).

Below the horizon!
https://www.siriusxm.com/aviation/coverage-map

There is only the Satellite radio on Satellite TV satellites (DVB-S) which need either a fixed dish, or rapidly steered one (ships) 45 cm to 1m dia depending on location and service. There was a portable service, but it's gone long ago.

There used to be loads of LW and MW, but most of it is gone now. DAB is hated compared to FM for some UK drivers as it drops out suddenly and slow to change channel. DAB was turned of in Ireland in 2021 and was only about 45% coverage.

The novel even mentioned Sirius by name.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by theducks

OK. I only read modern (>1950) Authors these days.

And even if you read ancient ones, there is hardly such a thing as USA vs British English editions before 19th C.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Below the horizon!
https://www.siriusxm.com/aviation/coverage-map

There is only the Satellite radio on Satellite TV satellites (DVB-S) which need either a fixed dish, or rapidly steered one (ships) 45 cm to 1m dia depending on location and service. There was a portable service, but it's gone long ago.

There used to be loads of LW and MW, but most of it is gone now. DAB is hated compared to FM for some UK drivers as it drops out suddenly and slow to change channel. DAB was turned of in Ireland in 2021 and was only about 45% coverage.

The novel even mentioned Sirius by name.

I had assumed world coverage as it would be able to bring progamming (if that is a good thing) to under developed countries of the world.

[Quoth]

parts of Europe, Africa and Asia had Worldspace.
Worldspace is defunct, but was too expensive for Africa. Receiver equipment was scarce and expensive. It was only successful in India, but that wasn't enough.
Sirius and XM merged in 2008 to form Sirius XM. The merger was done to avoid bankruptcy.

SirusXM uses Geosynchronous satellites as latency isn't an issue. The SXM-10 is at 116 °W, so even in Portugal & west of Ireland it's well below the horizon. Practically even with a 1.2M dish the limit in the West of Ireland is about 55 °W. New York is 73 °W, West of Ireland about 11 °W


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1worldspace

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_radio


SirusXM broadcasts would be illegal in Europe.
SirusXM radio uses the 2.3 GHz S band in North America for nationwide digital radio broadcasting.[6] MobaHO! operated at 2.6 GHz. In other parts of the world, satellite radio uses part of the 1.4 GHz L band allocated for DAB. It's not actually used for DAB, only VHF Band III is used for DAB (parts of 175 to 277 MHz and only terrestrial).

1.4GHz is also used for other services in Europe and World such Satnav.


In theory a wide beam aerial can illuminate about 1/3rd of the globe, but the power needed would be massive.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by theducks

I had assumed world coverage as it would be able to bring progamming (if that is a good thing) to under developed countries of the world.

Obviously the author didn't think about it.