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Old 04-11-2003, 12:24 PM
AlphaSigOU AlphaSigOU is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Huntsville, Alabama - ahem - Kwaj East!
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Don't forget, many Americans have never left their zip codes, so are totally unfamiliar with British idioms and slang.

Many moons ago (fifty, to be exact), Ian Fleming wrote the first book of the adventures of Britain's most famous secret agent, James Bond. The series was popular in England and Europe, with a small, devoted fan base in America.

It was not until 1960 when Life magazine published an article on President John F. Kennedy's ten most favorite books; number 7 on the list was Fleming's From Russia with Love. That's when 007 mania began taking off.

Fleming's first book, Casino Royale was full of Britishisms and a few French words thrown in for good measure. (Fleming, like his alter ego James Bond, was fluent in French, German and Russian.) When first issued in paperback in the USA, the title was altered to You Asked For It and the dialogue Americanized, since the publishers thought at the time 'Americans wouldn't know how to pronounce Casino Royale'.

Some of the American editions of Fleming's books had chapter titles changed; in is second book, Live And Let Die, one chapter title in the original book read: "N***** Heaven". The American edition changed it to a more benign "Seventh Avenue". (Ya gotta remember this was the early 50s, not the PC culture of today.)
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