linguistic puzzlers

[kindkit]

I'm reading John Le Carré's latest, A Delicate Truth, and I'm finding a lot of what look like Americanisms in the text. It's bugging me because I don't know if (a) some language was changed for the American edition, (b) it's just that American expressions increasingly creep into British English, or (c) Le Carré is using them deliberately to make points about his characters.

If the text was Americanized by the US publisher, it's been done very inconsistently. On the one hand, "pants" is used in the American sense (Br.Eng. = trousers); on the other, "fairy lights" is left untranslated.

Have I mentioned that I hate it when British books are Americanized by US publishers? I am not a ten-year-old reading Harry Potter; I'm not going to put the book down in frustration if I encounter an unfamiliar phrase.

Does anyone know if US books are Anglicized/Australianized for those markets? Or is US cultural hegemony strong enough that they're left unchanged even though the reverse isn't true?

Comments

[joatamon]

It's already been said by another commenter, I know, but American books aren't anglicized (for British audiences, at least), which I have always liked. This, plus marinating in TV/film and then fic, is how I learned enough American to write America-based fic myself, although it also means I have difficulties Brit-picking other people's stories because it's fuzzied my ability to spot Americanisms. It's also changed my speech patterns. I now use the word 'awesome' unironically.

I've never thought of it as cultural hegemony, I must admit, although you're right. If you mention the Americanisation of Britlit over here, I think the general assumption would be that it's because Americans are stupid/ignorant/insular/pick your offensive stereotype. I remember laughing when I first learned about the American versions of Harry Potter, back in the day.