Our bedtime story game has rapidly leveled up from board books to chapter books.
Right now we’re listening to The Christmasaurus audiobook on Davy’s Yoto radio and reading along in the hardcover.
The audiobook is British and the hardcover we have has been Americanized. I’ve texted changes I’ve noticed to a few friends and realized that this is just the sort of pedantic obsession that should live on the chronofile.
What follows is not an exhaustive list of changes, but those that stick in my mind without taking active notes at bedtime. There is a possibility of human error.
I’ll update this post as we read, but I’ve already ordered a UK hardcover (from Blackwells who offer free shipping to the US.) I find these changes really remove so much British charm.
Ok, time for the pedantry.
mum → mom
millimetres → inches
rubbish → terrible
tastes like marmite → tastes like chicken
tele → TV
school dinner → lunch
dinner ladies → lunch ladies
chips → French Fries
car park → parking lot
flask → cup
cutlery → silverware
wardrobe → closet*
loo → restroom
jumper → sweater
loony → strange
no mates → (completely cut)
hell → horrible
nattering → chattering
plug hole → drain
barmy →
red post box → mailbox
post → mail
ickle → little
it wasn’t anything to do with → it had nothing to do with
goose pimply → goose bumpy
cracker in the works → wrench in the plan
handmade → made
→ horrible
upon → on
cinema → theater
spotty → polka dot
whilst → while
pound notes → dollar bills
holidays → vacations
takeaway → takeout
snooker → pool
dreamt → dreamed
fairy lights → Christmas lights
stroppy → spoiled
opening hours → regular hours
GET ON! → HURRY UP!
I guess we should start at the beginning. → Let’s give it a try.
dressing gown → bathrobe
the shudders → the shivers
gawping → gaping
a maniac with a gun → saving a dinosaur from a hunter
barmy → out of his mind
absolutely potty → absolutely zany
scrummy → scrumptious
pool → pond
can’t make people die → can’t hurt people
take out a teacher → take down a teacher
said from somewhere → came from somewhere
they → the boys
whilst → while
Honestly I was fascinated by this little linguistic differences when I lived in London for a year. Chips to fries and jumper to sweater is almost understandable. And I can’t imagine including hell in a middle grade novel. 🤯 But all together the changes break the story’s sense of place.
The marmite one is particularly worrisome as it completely changes the meaning.
British terms the editor didn’t spot included:
fairy liquid (a brand of UK dish soap)
pants (meaning underpants)
There were also some sentence structure changes. Words swapped round.
And there seem to be opposing editorial stances on how often to repeat a character’s name. I found most of these changes ruined the rhythm.
It was clear straightaway that this must be the reason this book (and many others) do not have audiobooks for sale in American Audible. They’ve made too many changes to the text they would have to re-record it. And it wouldn’t even work with an American narrator or a British one by this point. It’s all muddled up.
* Imagine if they’d rewritten Narnia as The Lion, The Witch, and The Closet?! 😡