UK to US English translation, please

[justalurkr]

Having been told that a careful re-reading of Order of the Phoenix clearly indicates that the Big Damned Spoiler of Half-Blood Prince turns out not to be the case, and, wishing to verify this for myself even though as a long-time, intermittnet fan of daytime drama, I already knew the Big Damned Spoiler was not the case, I have embarked upon...you guessed it! Re-reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

"Wotcher, Harry," says Tonks, every time she sees the boy. Uh...eh? What does "wotcher" mean? And why did "Extendable Ears" become "Extensible Ears" between on book and the next? Did Scholastic decide to take the Britspeak training wheels off between one book and the next?

Comments

[becky-monster.livejournal.com]

"Wotcher" should be spelled "Wotcha!" and is a slang term for 'hello' or 'hi'. Is cockney in origin. Or at very least London and South East England. Used as a friendly greeting between people who are on good terms with each other.

I use it a hell of a lot. Especially on unsuspecting Americans ::grins evilly::

Perhaps Scholastic thought thta they didn't have the time to go through and 'change' (I'm not going to say 'correct' - because it already was!) JKR's english into american.
Can't see the issue myself. It's the same damn language at the end of the day, it moves and changes. British spoken english has picked up Americanisms ('hi' for starts) so why can't it be a two way street?

[justalurkr.livejournal.com]

[blink]

Two-way? We're talking about a product released in the United States of America assuming some mental flexibility on the part of the reading public? We don't hold with that sort of talk around here, missy!

Seriously, though, I suspect real fear on the part of the publisher that they'd lose sales if the dialog or narrative were too inpenetrably authentic. BBC America and PBS Britcoms/Masterpiece Theater have a pretty specific audience, and it's not big enough to support the blockbuster numbers the bowdlerized versions generated.

If they are taking off the training wheels, I'm glad to see it. Instilling mental flexibility through kidlit has got to be a good thing, yes?

Anyway, the most sense I could make of "wotcher," was "what are you doing?" or "wazzzup?" for the most direct US tranliteration. Context was certainly clear enough that I could (and have) moved on with the narrative without knowing for sure.

[justalurkr.livejournal.com]

And, of course...thank you for replying! That's not a Yank thing but a justalurkr thing that I forget a nicety or two. ;)

Also...another question. What cultural context does saying "wotcher" put Tonks in? Is she Cockney based on her subsequent behavior, or more of a slang sponge?