tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16823651.post3367055629261021652..comments2024-03-27T13:51:16.021-04:00Comments on Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun!: A Wodehouse a Week #2: Pearls, Girls, and Monty BodkinBullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11708103213119467419noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16823651.post-57018428774228092242007-05-22T00:55:00.000-04:002007-05-22T00:55:00.000-04:00Speaking of changing titles for the oh-so-importan...Speaking of changing titles for the oh-so-important American audience, let's not forget that 'Something Fresh' came out in the US as 'Something New', the former being a bit too, er, fresh, for American tastes. Apparently, some of the <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_Fresh#Something_New" REL="nofollow"><BR/>content was changed</A> too.<BR/><BR/>The most distressing example of this practice of renaming that I've come across was Random House issuing Jonathan Coe's novel 'What A Carve Up!' (a delicious <I>double entendre</I>) as 'The Winshaw Legacy'. Worse, we Canadians, the forgotten children of the Commonwealth, are not even able to purchase the proper British edition of this novel as Random House USA bought the rights for the Canadian market as well. Incidentally, Jonathan Coe is a recipient of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic writing.<BR/><BR/>Please check out my obsession with Wodehouse cover designs at<BR/>http://bookdesign.wordpress.com/tag/wodehouse<BR/><BR/>Cheers.Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00749726553784119972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16823651.post-14097187051353873302007-05-09T08:21:00.000-04:002007-05-09T08:21:00.000-04:00I've always wondered about titles that are changed...I've always wondered about titles that are changed when they move from Britain to the USA. For example, 'Pop Idol' was retitled 'American Idol'. Was that particular change because US TV executives worried that their audience were unsure of what country they lived in?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16823651.post-45272027056128286562007-05-08T09:37:00.000-04:002007-05-08T09:37:00.000-04:00There's even a Wodehouse book where one character ...There's even a Wodehouse book where one character calls another one a bitch!<BR/><BR/>(Appropriately, my verification word is jzzbl, which must be a mangling of 'jezebel', a much more Wodehousian choice for the same situation.)Matthew Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13601706197875450719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16823651.post-23187452506636810522007-05-08T08:47:00.000-04:002007-05-08T08:47:00.000-04:00I hadn't noticed that about the 'damn's or 'hell's...I hadn't noticed that about the 'damn's or 'hell's, before, Tom! I think I've been less likely in the past to pay attention to the era the book was published in than I will be this time around. I'm sure I'll spot 'em as I go through the canon. (Not in <I>The Gold Bat</I>, I'm sure!)Bullyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11708103213119467419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16823651.post-17361919153951659532007-05-08T01:54:00.000-04:002007-05-08T01:54:00.000-04:00You had me confused there for a long while. I felt...You had me confused there for a long while. I felt sure I'd read a Monty Bodkin yarn before, but I knew I would've remembered a title as fanciful as <B>Pearls, Girls, and Monty Bodkin</B>. I assumed I must've read the first Monty adventure. And yet, when you rehashed the plot, I knew it was the second I'd read, after all. Of course it turns out, I'd read it under the title <B>The Plot That Thickened</B>. It was darn good, by the way. Makes me want to read the first. (I have to admit, I think I prefer <B>The Plot That Thickened</B> as the book's title. Though I agree with you: I once read a book called <B>The Cat-Nappers</B>, but I kind of wish I'd read <B>Aunts Aren't Gentleman</B> -- which I believe was the final line of the book -- instead.)<BR/><BR/>Re: your notes on the era in which <B>Plot</B>/<B>Pearls</B> was published, I mentioned on your last Wodehouse post that I'd just finished <B>The Advenutres of Sally</B>, and I have to say, Wodehouse wasn't shy about dropping the occasional "damn" or "hell" even way back in the 1920s. The vulgarian!Tom the Doghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784918700194480944noreply@blogger.com