I still don't get it because its named after the myth ( the philophers stone - which creates the elixer of life etc) so even if you don't know what a philosopher is ( you have to be pretty stupid) you could just see it as a name of the stone like hogwarts is the name of the school. There is no need to change it. And with the changing of words, whats the point in that? cmon i'm sure any self respecting person could see that "my mum knitted me this jumper" means "my mom knitted me this sweater"

mmm i agree

ive read loads of american books and i think the little american words like "mom" instead adds tot he realism and makes the setting seem more believable.

so American readers must be REALLY confused!!! cuz Hogwarts is in Britain, so why would they british kids say stuff like "mom and sneakers" instead of "mum and trainers"

...unless even the bloody setting's different in the american version!!! [goddd]

dont u just HATE the people that thought this up

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Lol, it would be downright hilarious if they changed even the setting to somewhere in the US, but it would cause an uproar from both of our countries.

I wish they had kept all the vernacular the same. I was 9 when I first read HP, and could do with learning more about "English" English .

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Stupid yanks change everything lol

I only have book 1 and 5 in british version, and it's bugging me. When I realised that they actually "translated" the american version, I got sad. It's hard to learn as a naive 12-year-old

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Ford, I think I'm a sofa

It shouldnt be renamed because the site is technically an American site.


Also, there is no difference between philosophers in America and Philosophers in the UK. The name change was simply because t hey wanted a more dumbed down title that would apeal to American children. Since children are like little monkeys, impressed by shiny objects and the such, a Sorcerer is a much more interesting thing to a child than a philosopher. It was a marketing ploy, most likely.


My above post is purely speculation and a guess so I could be wrong, but I would bet money that its the actual reason for the name change.

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Makes sense to me. I'm American and I know plenty of kids who probably wouldn't pick up a book if it had something like "philosopher" on the cover. It's a word that describes a smart person, which usually means big words, which means confusing and boring. (I've come to find that as a common mindset around here.)

Philosophers definately better

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ive read lots of people saying they know what a philosopher is but no one has simply said..

a philosopher is some who philosophizes (sp?) about humanity, the future, anything at all really. such as philosophers used to think that the world was flat and that you would fall off the end if you sailed far enough. which was an early philosophy proven fake by science and fact.

to my knowledge philosophy didnt have alot to do with alchemy, if anything at all.

i mean look at the word philosophy itself and consider its meaning, it means pretty much to have a comprehensible thought that could somewhat predict a certain circumstance or set of events that would or could either directly or indirectly affect the person or partys involved but perhaps not at all. if that makes any sense? lol

early philosophers in real history were merely guys who passed there time speculating on the ins and outs of religion, the universe and anything else that they could think of. sometimes these philosophers found more truth then others.

as to the reason why the name of the book was changed i have no opinion, its not like it would have made a massive difference i think, and it certainly caused alot of extra unneccesary work for ALOT of people involved in the publishing and also those involved with the movie. does it affect me though? nope!

im from australia where we have always called it philophers stone and it really doesnt bother me that the american readers had a different title. the books certainly still captured them the same as they did readers anywhere else in the world.

I think the title change was dumb. If it's because Americans don't know what a Philosopher is, that's their own damn fault. Though I don't see why they shouldn't, since there are quite a few modern American Philosophers. Then again, I doubt anyone actually cares anymore.

I personally also think it was stupid because the Philosopher's Stone was an actual story/myth or whatever you want to call it. And Rowling based the plot of the book around that. So to change it is just... well, really stupid.

BUT OH WELL IT'S DONE NOW.

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