Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id PAA05074 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 9 Jan 2002 15:01:49 GMT X-Originating-IP: [137.110.248.206] From: "Grant Callaghan" <grantc4@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: RE: Wade's hammer Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2002 06:57:16 -0800 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <LAW2-F55mqkhqntKrUV0001bfbe@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 09 Jan 2002 14:57:16.0952 (UTC) FILETIME=[EE057180:01C1991D] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>
>Although of course, over here we had 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's
>Stone', and over there you had 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'. It
>went round the British press (as these things usually do) that this was
>because US audiences wouldn't know what a philosopher was. Apocryphal no
>doubt, like the one about 'The Madness of King George III' being called
>'The
>Madness of King George' in the US because otherwise people would think it
>was a sequel.
>
Americans think of Merlin as a magician and Bertrand Russel as a philosopher
and see no connection between the two. It would be like confusing a chemist
with an alchemist or an astronomer with an astrologer.
On the world stage, English has become the language of choice for people
wanting to do business. But the English they most often choose and specify
in their ads for English teachers is American English. There are two
reasons for that: first, the business world is dominated by the American
economy and second the majority of Asian students expect to go to American
universities. Nearly all of the testing for ESL in Taiwan, for instance, is
done by Americans and American institutions. But my point is that it's
American English that is becoming the worldwide standard outside of
commonwealth countries. Asians find it more useful and there's enough of a
difference to make people ask for it by name.
Grant
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