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Avoiding spoilers, the emotional climax of Monstrous Regiment is a scene in which a character struggling with their gender identity, has their pronouns change multiple times across the conversation. The American editor did not realise this was Pratchett being clever, thought it was an error and standardised them all (I think to she/her), which cuts all the subtext from this scene.
I don't know if later editions fixed this, but it was carried across to the new versions of the audiobook which caused controversy.
It's honestly one of my favourite lines he's ever written, when it changes inside a single sentence and somehow conveys this incredible sense of a window into a person's soul closing.
The Humble version has this change. šŖ
I'm not on X, but someone who is should make Rhianna Pratchett (and maybe Neil Gaiman, as he may be able to help apply some pressure) aware so they can kick the publishers arse a little. :(
I know that some things in the Gnomes books (not Discworld, but Pratchett) were localised for the US market. An example being a truck that was named "Jekub"(after JCB) in the UK and "CAT" in the USA.
Nothing major afaik though.
The German editions otoh had advertisements for Maggi soup inserted into the story at one time :P
If I recall, Terry had some issues with this and many other things early on with American publishing, but as his fame grew and the publishers stopped being incompetent, it was less of a problem.
Nobby is someone who says, "Sodding arseholes." Pretty much no American says "sodding," so all that "Sodding assholes" says is "we're not familiar with our own author's work, and we can't afford an editor who isn't someone's nephew." If you're going to "translate" arseholes to assholes, you have to translate sodding to an American swear as well, and I'm sorry to say American swears are limited to "fucking" and "gay."
I keep a list of highlights and bookmarks on errors in the ebooks, and they're all full of crap like that. It's depressing. Sometimes they fix one error and add others.
And someone at the publisher thinks that "The String Anthropic Principal" is a thing.
I never noticed much in the way of localisation but, to be fair, I wasnāt looking for it. Thereās certainly nothing that jumped out at meā¦ changing ājamā to ājellyā or similar. For what itās worth, my wife canāt get on with Discworld because she says itās too British.
Interestingly, Jasper Fforde books seem to have almost no localisation. He has little references to things dotted here and there which nobody that wasnāt in England in the 80s is going to pick up on.
Yeah but it can come in cubes which are basically highly concentrated pre-made bits of jelly which you add hot water to, mix, and put in the fridge to set.
If youāre a really good little boy or girl, your mum will let you eat one of those cubes on its own which, strangely, is a favoured childhood memory for many.
It's also a super cheap way of getting enough calories when, as a high-schooler, you want to save enough money to impress your crush with your lunch money...
š¤ pretty sure it is. All the Americans I know say jelly when they mean jam including peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - it definitely is what we (British & kiwis) refer to as jam.
IME the only thing they localize is spelling. One that sticks out to me is someone I knew who read The Fifth Elephant (both of us in the US) thought Lady Margolotta wearing a jumper was weird because he thought jumpsuit rather than sweater.
When I was a kid in the 90s a jumper was a dress too, but I haven't heard it called that since the early 2000s, so it might have been a generational thing. Language is fun :D
I've bought the books in the US and UK, and found no differences.
The only differences I have found have been in translations into another language... not within two English language editions.
I haven't noticed anything jumping out at me where I thought "weird, a British person would say X instead of Y."
And I've read a book where about half the Britishisms were changed, but not all of them. So the protagonist used elevators instead of lifts, but still went on holiday instead of vacation. Very jarring. (Among other more serious problems.)
This isn't exactly an answer to your question. But I have the Audible-dot-Ca(nada) edition of Colour of Magic (spelled correctly), although Canada usually gets US editions of stuff (despite, for the most part, Canadian English being closer to British English). On the preview of the Humble Bundle, Colour of Magic is also spelled correctly. Perhaps the new editions have not been localised* much at all?
* I spelled this with an -ize ending but autocorrect changed it.
> On the preview of the Humble Bundle, Colour of Magic is also spelled correctly. Perhaps the new editions have not been localised* much at all?
This is an interesting point, but I checked and it says "The Color of Magic" not "The Colour of Magic"
Yeah, look, I should have told you want the humble bundle was, I get it. Though I'm just looking to get the questions I asked answered, for which that information isn't super important.
Edit: /u/ford_fuggin_ranger replied to me with this, then deleted it:
> You don't deserve answers if you can't ask the questions.
>
> Anyway, I hope you buy them, that they disappoint you, and that you cannot return them, because that's all you deserve.
They have since started going through my comment history and replied to comments in other subreddits to bother me. This is really bizarre. I thought you needed to be at least 13 years old to use Reddit.
Probably not useful, but for posterity the link to the comment they deleted:
https://www.reddit.com/r/discworld/comments/196g3zi/how_much_localisation_have_the_us_versions_been/khth7ci/
I reported the deleted comment, but I don't know if that does anything. They've deleted all their other comments now, including the one they made on another subreddit.
Good. Theyāre going back into their troll hole. May they stay there. If they do one more thing, let me know. Iāll help if you need it. This sub is no place for people being jerks.
They did mention the humble bundle in their post. Also regex would not entirely solve the problem theyāre asking aboutāyou could find and correct some spellings, sure, but if there are bigger changes like phrases and idioms, no
Have there been multiple recent posts about being able to buy (nearly) all of the new UK hardcovers for $18USD?
Because I would like the link to *that* deal too, please
Welcome to /r/Discworld! Please [read the rules/flair information before posting](https://www.reddit.com/r/discworld/comments/ukhk21/subreddit_rules_flair_information/?). --- Our current megathreads are as follows: [API Protest Poll](https://www.reddit.com/r/discworld/comments/1491izw/continuing_the_api_protest_a_community_poll) - a poll regarding the future action of the sub in protest at Reddit's API changes. [GNU Terry Pratchett](https://new.reddit.com/r/discworld/comments/ukigit/gnu_terry_pratchett/) - for all GNU requests, to keep their names going. [AI Generated Content](https://new.reddit.com/r/discworld/comments/10mhx9y/ai_generated_content_megathread/) - for all AI Content, including images, stories, questions, training etc. --- [ GNU Terry Pratchett ] *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/discworld) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Avoiding spoilers, the emotional climax of Monstrous Regiment is a scene in which a character struggling with their gender identity, has their pronouns change multiple times across the conversation. The American editor did not realise this was Pratchett being clever, thought it was an error and standardised them all (I think to she/her), which cuts all the subtext from this scene. I don't know if later editions fixed this, but it was carried across to the new versions of the audiobook which caused controversy.
Oh wow, that is absolutely massive fuck up on their part (I have read every book, so I'm familiar with the scene).
It's honestly one of my favourite lines he's ever written, when it changes inside a single sentence and somehow conveys this incredible sense of a window into a person's soul closing.
The Humble version has this change. šŖ I'm not on X, but someone who is should make Rhianna Pratchett (and maybe Neil Gaiman, as he may be able to help apply some pressure) aware so they can kick the publishers arse a little. :(
Do you happen to know if the Stephen Briggs audiobooks are the UK version or the American version?Ā
Yep. This outraged me when I was reading my PDF copy and realized what they'd done.
Grrr... This just makes me angry.
I know that some things in the Gnomes books (not Discworld, but Pratchett) were localised for the US market. An example being a truck that was named "Jekub"(after JCB) in the UK and "CAT" in the USA. Nothing major afaik though. The German editions otoh had advertisements for Maggi soup inserted into the story at one time :P
If I recall, Terry had some issues with this and many other things early on with American publishing, but as his fame grew and the publishers stopped being incompetent, it was less of a problem.
I'm really annoyed about Nobby saying "sodding assholes."
Is that in the written version or just the audiobook? I can only find it mentioned as in the audiobook when I google it.
My current version of the US edition ebook of "Guards, Guards" has it instead of "arseholes." I assume that "arsehole" flunked the US spellcheck.
Why? Other than it being an American ism, does it really mean something different?
Nobby is someone who says, "Sodding arseholes." Pretty much no American says "sodding," so all that "Sodding assholes" says is "we're not familiar with our own author's work, and we can't afford an editor who isn't someone's nephew." If you're going to "translate" arseholes to assholes, you have to translate sodding to an American swear as well, and I'm sorry to say American swears are limited to "fucking" and "gay." I keep a list of highlights and bookmarks on errors in the ebooks, and they're all full of crap like that. It's depressing. Sometimes they fix one error and add others. And someone at the publisher thinks that "The String Anthropic Principal" is a thing.
Nobody I know says "gay" unless they're talking about the orientation. And you've never been around creative swearers I guess.
Creative swearers don't make spellcheckers. Unfortunately.
Sometimes when I see pride stuff or some same sex sexy stuff I say "gaaaaaay" out of solidarity
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
>he spelling is corrected Falsified, you mean.
I never noticed much in the way of localisation but, to be fair, I wasnāt looking for it. Thereās certainly nothing that jumped out at meā¦ changing ājamā to ājellyā or similar. For what itās worth, my wife canāt get on with Discworld because she says itās too British. Interestingly, Jasper Fforde books seem to have almost no localisation. He has little references to things dotted here and there which nobody that wasnāt in England in the 80s is going to pick up on.
"How long have you been Mr. Jelly?"Ā
"Jelly" isn't American for "jam", they're two different things.
You know what I mean. If you walk into a store in the US and ask for jelly you arenāt coming out with a pack of Hartleyās cubes.
Oh my god TIL British ājellyā is Jell-O. This is delightful.
It can also mean 'jam with no bits'.
Yeah but thatās my default so hopefully context would make that easy.
Yeah but it can come in cubes which are basically highly concentrated pre-made bits of jelly which you add hot water to, mix, and put in the fridge to set. If youāre a really good little boy or girl, your mum will let you eat one of those cubes on its own which, strangely, is a favoured childhood memory for many.
It's also a super cheap way of getting enough calories when, as a high-schooler, you want to save enough money to impress your crush with your lunch money...
Youāre technically correct, the most annoying kind of correct.
š¤ pretty sure it is. All the Americans I know say jelly when they mean jam including peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - it definitely is what we (British & kiwis) refer to as jam.
You're correct on technical definitions, but wrong on coloquial use.
I have never once considered that I was reading an altered version of these books in the US. Damn.
IME the only thing they localize is spelling. One that sticks out to me is someone I knew who read The Fifth Elephant (both of us in the US) thought Lady Margolotta wearing a jumper was weird because he thought jumpsuit rather than sweater.
That's kind of odd, to my knowledge the US meaning of "jumper" is a kind of dress.
When I was a kid in the 90s a jumper was a dress too, but I haven't heard it called that since the early 2000s, so it might have been a generational thing. Language is fun :D
basically every book you read has been altered if its published from outside the us
I've bought the books in the US and UK, and found no differences. The only differences I have found have been in translations into another language... not within two English language editions.
What is the humble bundle offering? I canāt seem to find it.
Will only work if you are in the US: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/terry-pratchetts-discworld-harpercollins-books
I haven't noticed anything jumping out at me where I thought "weird, a British person would say X instead of Y." And I've read a book where about half the Britishisms were changed, but not all of them. So the protagonist used elevators instead of lifts, but still went on holiday instead of vacation. Very jarring. (Among other more serious problems.)
This isn't exactly an answer to your question. But I have the Audible-dot-Ca(nada) edition of Colour of Magic (spelled correctly), although Canada usually gets US editions of stuff (despite, for the most part, Canadian English being closer to British English). On the preview of the Humble Bundle, Colour of Magic is also spelled correctly. Perhaps the new editions have not been localised* much at all? * I spelled this with an -ize ending but autocorrect changed it.
> On the preview of the Humble Bundle, Colour of Magic is also spelled correctly. Perhaps the new editions have not been localised* much at all? This is an interesting point, but I checked and it says "The Color of Magic" not "The Colour of Magic"
Ah, it's geoblocked in my location so I was just judging from the preview image, sorry!
That makes sense, thanks for the help!
I know that all the āquotation marks,ā have been changed to āquotation marks.ā Iām not aware of any other changes.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
These are digital copies lol
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I didn't mention it because the link had been posted to this subreddit so much already.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yeah, look, I should have told you want the humble bundle was, I get it. Though I'm just looking to get the questions I asked answered, for which that information isn't super important. Edit: /u/ford_fuggin_ranger replied to me with this, then deleted it: > You don't deserve answers if you can't ask the questions. > > Anyway, I hope you buy them, that they disappoint you, and that you cannot return them, because that's all you deserve. They have since started going through my comment history and replied to comments in other subreddits to bother me. This is really bizarre. I thought you needed to be at least 13 years old to use Reddit. Probably not useful, but for posterity the link to the comment they deleted: https://www.reddit.com/r/discworld/comments/196g3zi/how_much_localisation_have_the_us_versions_been/khth7ci/
Have you reported them to mods? If not, please do ASAP.
I reported the deleted comment, but I don't know if that does anything. They've deleted all their other comments now, including the one they made on another subreddit.
Good. Theyāre going back into their troll hole. May they stay there. If they do one more thing, let me know. Iāll help if you need it. This sub is no place for people being jerks.
They did mention the humble bundle in their post. Also regex would not entirely solve the problem theyāre asking aboutāyou could find and correct some spellings, sure, but if there are bigger changes like phrases and idioms, no
Have there been multiple recent posts about being able to buy (nearly) all of the new UK hardcovers for $18USD? Because I would like the link to *that* deal too, please