I've never understood why in the USA Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Now I'm from the UK and have nothing against Americans I just couldn't understand it. I mean did Bloomsbury think that Americans would not be able to understand the title if it contained the word Philosopher's so they patronise the reader by changing it to Sorcerer's Stone. Why are Americans so special it requires somebody to change the title of the book before the appreciate it. I mean come on, the title has no meaning when it is changed. The author is English and is famous for linking elements of her stories with real life. In the real world The Philosopher's stone is a true item used in Alchemy. Here is evidence:
Its called the philosophers in the UK...? hmmm news to me. Any way im from america and i think i could still understand it if it had the word philosopher in it. Did'nt it come out first in the UK maybe people did not like the way it sound there so when it came out here they changed the name to sorcerer's. But i dont know personaly i like the way sorcerer's stone sounds (no offence or anything) philosopher's stone sounds muggle to me like something from anciant greece.
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The word sorcery trivialises the idea of witchraft and wizardry. It was called Philosophers Stone in UK first because it is an English book by an English author. It is also called philosophers stone in the rest of the world except USA. Bloomsbury then changed the name for the USA release so it would be more accessable to the American readers. The movie then followed suit. But to me it is a pointless name change I mean are USA really that different from the rest of the world, I wouldn't think so.
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UK and America are almost exactly the same in my opinon except for the different accents. so your guess is as good as mine as why they changed it to sorcerer's stone.
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A Philosopher, as the book is called, is an English based word for a brewer of all things good and magical. In America (like it sometimes it here) a Philosopher is a smart person, a studier. That is why they changed the name to Sorceror before the American release-to ease confusion, Actually, in some bookshelves here i have found some new books that have Sorceror on them. The name change was to ease confusion but because the book was already released here and in England when they picked it up it was too late. The movie just followed suit...
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well um i think sorcerers stone sounds better. philosopher i always thought was someone who wrote literature or studied rocks or soemthing. i think sorcerers sounds more magical to me. but us americans have no right to change the authors original work unless translated for us to understand it.
i don't think sorcerer sounds right...i completely agree wiv katzmeow, i cudn't have said it better myself!! she's got it spot on...
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yeah i agree 2.... i mean the book was made in england so y change the name 4 americans (no effence)
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"Its called the philosophers in the UK...? hmmm news to me. Any way im from america and i think i could still understand it if it had the word philosopher in it. Did'nt it come out first in the UK maybe people did not like the way it sound there so when it came out here they changed the name to sorcerer's. But i dont know personaly i like the way sorcerer's stone sounds (no offence or anything) philosopher's stone sounds muggle to me like something from anciant greece."
I agree with you on that one but yes it is wierd that they changed it...i dont know why i mean the 5th book is a lot more english (language wise) than the other books and i understood it fine and im from the US so it kind of strikes me as a little offensive sort of. but whatever the book overall in both countries was the same and it rocked!
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It is probably cos the legend of the Philosopher's Stone is an English legend. nobody out of the uk really knows about it, but it still sux cos every other country is philosophers, why did scholastic have to change it?
From what I can tell the term Philosopher's Stone, referring to a device which can turn base metals into gold and extend life, goes back as far as the middle ages in England. However, translating for other European languages it can be found all over Europe at the same time and ultimately originates in ancient Greece.
The term is defined a considerable time before the first European colonisation of North America and should thus be as much a part of American cultural heritage as as it is of English cultural heritage; considering the root commonality in the most part.
However, not many people in England had ever heard of the Philosopher's Stone either, before Ms Rowling's efforts. If you consider the facts that the popularity of the books built up over a period of time in England and that the American publisher paid a great deal of money for the American rights perhaps it becomes a little clearer that they wanted a more rapid return on their considerable investment and thus chose a new title over the original which may indeed have slowed the initial take up in England due to confusion.
Of course we don't know if the book would have become more popular, more quickly in England with the word sourcerer's in the title but it wouldn't have mattered quite so much since the initial British publisher didn't pay anywhere near the sum for the publishing rights.
The question as to whether the publisher should have changed the title under any circumstances, in view of the legend on which the book draws being about the Philosopher's Stone, is quite another matter, for it means that all mention of the legend within the book is rendered wholly fictional.
I get the impression from the way JK writes that she likes to integrate reality and fiction in her work, she often draws on real world sources, and as such I think that the publisher can be said to have taken something from the reader that JK had chosen to give them; a connection between the real world legend of the Philosopher's Stone and her book of the same name.
This, I find annoying, doubly so in view of the fact that it was so done with the simple aim of making a faster buck!
good points Katzmeow and Phoenix. I agree with you both. I too thought that Philosopher was in Philosophy as in to be studying stuff and then it makes sense for the UK to know what it meant due to their legend..however the rest of the world wouldn't know about it.
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Hey SiriusBlackRIP, I don't get it either, I mean this is the age of the internet right? And reality TV are booming, so why did the American publishers changed it's name? I guess they probably thought maybe Bloomsbury would sell the British book in the American market. Yeah, this makes perfect sense, if you want to know anything then all you have to do is to get in any of the search engine, type the stuff that your looking for, then click and wala all you need to know is in front of your eyes. So the reason "American children are not familier with the term Philosopher's Stone" seems a very lame execuse indeed.
Last edited by jennyanderson on Nov 15th, 2003 at 04:52 AM
You are correct jennyanderson. If I lived in America my intelligence would have been very much insulted by Bloomsbury.
__________________ 'The world is like a ride at an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think that it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. There is a lot of denial in this ride, the ride, in fact, is made up of denial. It goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question, is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "hey - don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride..." And we... kill those people. Ha ha "Shut him up." "We have a lot invested in this ride. Shut him up. Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and my family. This just has to be real." Just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. But it doesn't matter because: It's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defences each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.' - the late prophet Bill Hicks.
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Why the name change in USA??
Aug 8th, 2003 02:14 PM
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