3 ms·

Slightly off topic, but I've always wondered... Is there any particular reason why they changed his name for the US editions? Is there something about "Wally" t

Slightly off topic, but I've always wondered... Is there any particular reason why they changed his name for the US editions? Is there something about "Wally" that sounds weird to Americans?

nwh 13y ago
I've always been told that it's dumbing down, usually the line is "American children wouldn't understand it". I suppose it's the same as the Harry Potter books, "Philosopher" changed to "Sorcerer" in the title. It's very prevalent to change "foreign" names to Americanised ones.
- jstalin 13y ago
  Perhaps philosopher has a different connotation in UK English. Sorcerer just seems more appropriate in a book about magic.
  - kbenson 13y ago
    The Philosofer's Stone[1] is a commonly used mythological item in fiction. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher's_stone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher's_stone
  - JonnieCache 13y ago
    The term "Philosopher's stone" is from medieval european alchemical lore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher's_stone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher's_stone I don't know if they imagined british kids all knowing about that, but I can assure you the term would be just as fantastical to them as to americans.
    - jstalin 13y ago
      Interesting. Having never looked into the history of alchemy, I would never have associated philosophers with alchemy. Sorcerer just makes more sense (to me).
- iends 13y ago
  Except his name is changed in almost every country, so it's not "dumbing down": Germany - Walter Norway - Willy France - Charlie Denmark - Holger Israel - Effi Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/22414/wheres-waldo-and-whos-wally http://mentalfloss.com/article/22414/wheres-waldo-and-whos-w...
- callum85 13y ago
  I'm not sure if that applies in this case... There's nothing to 'understand' about the name Wally or Waldo. They're both just random, invented names, AFAICT.
  - nwh 13y ago
    "Wally" would be a shortening of "Wallace", both are quite old names.
    - mcguire 13y ago
      Or "Walter", which seems more common in the U.S. (This comment brought to you by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Statistics.)
mcguire 13y ago
I don't believe (note: no statistics were examined in the making of this answer) "Waldo" is a particularly American name. "Wally" has at least some traction, if not particularly recently.

Slightly off topic, but I've always wondered... Is there any particular reason why they changed his name for the US editions? Is there something about "Wally" that sounds weird to Americans?

nwh 13y ago

I've always been told that it's dumbing down, usually the line is "American children wouldn't understand it". I suppose it's the same as the Harry Potter books, "Philosopher" changed to "Sorcerer" in the title. It's very prevalent to change "foreign" names to Americanised ones.

jstalin 13y ago
Perhaps philosopher has a different connotation in UK English. Sorcerer just seems more appropriate in a book about magic.
- kbenson 13y ago
  The Philosofer's Stone[1] is a commonly used mythological item in fiction. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher's_stone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher's_stone
- JonnieCache 13y ago
  The term "Philosopher's stone" is from medieval european alchemical lore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher's_stone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher's_stone I don't know if they imagined british kids all knowing about that, but I can assure you the term would be just as fantastical to them as to americans.
  - jstalin 13y ago
    Interesting. Having never looked into the history of alchemy, I would never have associated philosophers with alchemy. Sorcerer just makes more sense (to me).
iends 13y ago
Except his name is changed in almost every country, so it's not "dumbing down": Germany - Walter Norway - Willy France - Charlie Denmark - Holger Israel - Effi Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/22414/wheres-waldo-and-whos-wally http://mentalfloss.com/article/22414/wheres-waldo-and-whos-w...
callum85 13y ago
I'm not sure if that applies in this case... There's nothing to 'understand' about the name Wally or Waldo. They're both just random, invented names, AFAICT.
- nwh 13y ago
  "Wally" would be a shortening of "Wallace", both are quite old names.
  - mcguire 13y ago
    Or "Walter", which seems more common in the U.S. (This comment brought to you by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Statistics.)

mcguire 13y ago

I don't believe (note: no statistics were examined in the making of this answer) "Waldo" is a particularly American name. "Wally" has at least some traction, if not particularly recently.