> > Huh. Everyone keeps saying this book has been translated into American English for us American audiences, but in this copy from our American bookstore I've only noticed two Americanisms ("glasses" and "presently" meaning "now"). The book is chockful of British words and usages, like "post" for "mail and such. Was the original British version shipped to my bookstore (a big chain branch), or was the translator braindead? Or are "glasses" and "presently" meaning "now" (as opposed to "soon") suddenly used in British English, too?
> >
> > -eric "by 'glasses' I mean 'the things you wear on your face when you can't see,' not 'the things you drink out of'" sleator
> > Mon 31 Jul A.D. 2000
>
>
> 'Glasses' and 'presently' are definitely used here in Britain. I wear glasses when I don't have contacts in and call them glasses instead of spectacles. My Grandmother used to say presently right till her dying day. I used to think of it as an old people's thing as I never heard anyone under the age of 65 say it.
>
> Beasty

Is that so? my understanding of it (and this was confirmed by various British-English dictionaries on the Internet, most of which were maintained by British persons) was that "presently" in America means "now" and in Britain means "soon." This goes along with a few things I have read that were by British people, notably the Alice books by Lewis Carroll.

-eric "but still, it's a swell book" sleator
Mon 31 Jul A.D. 2000