> 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