Why the name change in USA??

Originally posted by moviefiend
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!

I completely agree with this post.

Originally posted by Luna150
I think you'll find that pheonix was repeating wat some1 else said on page two (like she said) Some person on page two said tht america changed it to make money and braggin about how rich america was and about how every thing was money. Basicly is was a horse load of dung. And what does it matter which country does most for charity. Most people in britain would rather we didn't give so much money to other countrys and let in asilam seekers and just delt with our own 1st and im sure some americans think the same. Britain might do alot but i no i dont. I think ive done a few charity things at school but nothign major. Ild hate it if people talked about things britain had done like i personaly had done them. I pride myself on being diferent then every1 else. Its all 1 world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good points and there is so much more to it - Linkalicious was rather short sighted in his post and obviously did not realise that the level of his politics, economics, world history and sociology was no where near unravelled enough to such depths for him to back up the claims of America's 'charitable' attitudes and that it has helped cause and maintain most of the circumstances that are faced today alongside Britain and other various allies over time. Then there is the fact that anyone who has worked in a charity as an employee (as opposed to a volunteer) will know that it's more of a financial institution and huge percentages of donations are spent on internal administration rather then the cause, plus the fact that Britian and America caused and keep the world in debt to them, force all kinds of autrocities that cause a need for charities in teh first place when they need the way paved for foreign investment, trained and supplied all those we know as terrorists, backed all the wars and acted as dealers on both sides, still refuse to give back all stolen artefacts and precious gems, still have the attitude that if you don't like it then you should go back to your own country when quite bloody frankly unless you are Natiev American, Aborigonie or from the real roots of Britian (which hardly anyone is at all) then they need to close their mouths. Or their monetary banking system where the business of banks is to make money off of money, not theirs btw but yours while you're the one who pays for it plus the system to back it up that obviously will work in the richer coutnries because that is what it at heart is desinged for whereas you go to Russia and ask them what capitalism did for them. Bankrupt them. That's what it did to them and the only flourishing places are Moscow and St Petersburg whereas the rest has gone completely downhill with people selling up everything, becoming poor, not making any money or having any govt support, before everyone no matter how they did would get aid and now they get nothing so the gap between rich and poor is beyond ridiculous. There's not much to do now but cut down forests for pittance.

Americans and Britons are too quick to jump and go on about how great they are and how good they are to other people - yes they have been helpful but only to cover up and clean up shit they started and shift the blame - when really they don't clear it up, they still occupy and control, things will always be at their convenience. The onyl country who is in credit to them is India now, ever since their indepence they have worked and slogged and brought themselves out of debt and owe the world nothing, they now have better control over their own resources because they got rid of the shitty East India company but they are still civilised about it - I mean I don't see them demanding their jewels back from that *****'s 'Crown Jewels'. Everyone else though are too deep in shit to help themselves get out and dont' have so many natural resources to rely on - and even the ones that do bow down to Britamerica to make even more money. The ones that don't are forced to rely upon the ones that put them there and 'borrow' more moeny piling up more debt and tons more interest and don't be so blind as to think that 'donations' are stipulation free - the more they accept the more they really give away. Plus, if Britain and America did nothing on the surface level in terms of charity events how would it look for their image as rich countries? But don't worry, they don't really giev anything away, look at the Lord in The Guardian yesterday who milked the institution he worked for like a cow - even billing his wife's charity donations on the expense forms so he got it all back - that's exactly the way Britamerica works when it comes to it, always have and always will.

Of course there are great advantages of being British or American, there should be but then look more closely and look at the class system, the institutional prejudice, chauvenism and elitism. Then look at the living conditions and the living costs - it takes a wage of approx £33000 to live 'decently' here in London and most people don't get that - even graduates start at around £14000 nowadays unless they are in law or medicine - and with houses costing £200,000 average (that's a reuglar two bedroom, one box room, one bathroom, sitting room, kitchen, small garden, no parking) you'd need to earn £70,000 a year to be able to get a mortgage for that without taking out multiple loans and insurance. Look at the pollution levels, the state of the drinking water, the toxic air levels, the high crime rate with rape rising 29% last year alone - with the divide in education between schools and what you pay for, with the resources for uni's because people can't even be bothered to pay back into them - the sky high luxury taxes on things like women's hygience products which no way in all hell should be considered luxury items. It's harder then anywhere in Europe to run your own business here and you are more then likely to declare bankruptcy at some point - there's no point in owning a car here - it's not safe to even let your kids play in your own garden without a dog, we have the highest obesity and bad health rates even with the massive incorporation of organic food over geneticall modified. We have more people in counselling, we work the longest hours, youth pregnancy is on the rise due to shitty culture even with all the contraception there is, the incredible lack of social responsibilty and manners has to led to us being looked down at by our neighbors as tourists. We have 80% of the world's food in the northern hemisphere and waste most of it, huge supermarket franchises (except Safeway as one example) prefer to burn and dump huge amounts of prodcue that didn't sell rather then give it to people who need it - they'd rather dispose of it then give it away if they aren't going to make a profit out of it even though they weren't going to anyway. We can not compare to the better healthcare systems in place to some of our european neighbors like Scandanavia - we have a very bad transport system which takes more and more money each year from us and we on the person level hardly see any change. I'm not saying that there hasn't been increased investment and that things don't take time to change but on the whole we don't see where it goes - we have such an arrogant attitude in general, thinking we can go anywhere in the world, live there, act like it's our playground and don't even bother to learn foreign cultures or languages but yet he hate it when people try to come here for a better life making up excuses for own laziness and the list goes on.

Quite frankly - there are plenty of perks to being British or American and we have alot, I'm not denying it and I can list them too but at the same time I don't turn a blind eye to all that is wrong either - you have to see all the sides and comparisons, we are not as well off, great, free or as charitable as we think, it's just easy on the ego to believe that we are. I'm glad that Luna realises that we are too easily patriotic and that people born in the US and UK act as if the achievements of other people in the country are their own and use it against others to feel abd act superior. It's better if people just look in the mirror and ask how much have they personally done before they start spouting off about how people shouldn't complain or have no right, because we may be part of a collective but we are also individuals and getting a ride off other people to prove a point is ridiculous. You're right, it's one world and we all have to live in it and that's not just human beings acting as parasites either.