(no subject)

[rivka]

I'm not sure I've ever done this before, but I have to promote this comment to a main post:

Emma commented on the post I titled "My mom says some days are like that. Even in Australia."

Are you quoting the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day? You must be! In Australia, it reads "Some days are like that, even in Timbuktu". Just so you know.

I don't know why, but I am so unbelievably charmed to know this. Logically, it makes perfect sense that Australian children wouldn't want to face down an awful day by muttering "I think I'll move to Australia." I just never knew they had an alternative. Now I do, and I'm sharing that knowledge with you.

Comments

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

I didn't pick up on the reference, and was puzzled. But no longer!

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

excellent. this is very good to know. (also, if i ever find lucky rocketship underpants, i will let you know where they are available.)

[naomikritzer]

Oh! THANK you! I have actually wondered for YEARS how that book goes in Australia.

I loved that book as a kid and actually love it even more as a mother in part because it's so clear, when you read it as an adult, that the mother is having a godawful day, too. (I have mulled over how easy it would be to rewrite the book with the same rhythms but providing the mom's perspective on the day. "And THEN I took the kids to the dentist. 'You still owe a hundred dollars from last time,' the receptionist told me. 'You'll have to pay it before you bring Alexander back next week!' Next week, I told her, I'm moving to Australia.")

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is awesome.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

That totally made my evening. Thank you.

[tassie-gal.livejournal.com]

OOH! I love finding out how books are slightly different in different markets. I always gets confused by covers. I have accidently bought the same ethics book 3 times in 3 different countries due to different covers.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

I can't remember for sure, but I think that the time I met a much smaller Alex, I gave her a copy of The Paper Bag Princess. (Either that or Jane's Dragon, also recommended for small mediaevalists with egalitarian parents.) I've heard that there is a version of that book published in the USA in which the princess does not call Ronald a bum.

in Australia

[(Anonymous)]

In Australia Alexander has a Mum, not a Mom, too.

I think it would be great from the mother's point of view. The picture in the Dad's office where the kids are running wild has her with a look on her face that every mother everywhere can empathise with.

Thanks for noticing, Rivka

Emma

Re: in Australia

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you. As you can see, your comment made a bunch of people happy.

Did you know before my post that the American Alexander wanted to move to Australia? Or was this a mutual surprise?

Re: in Australia

[(Anonymous)]

Definitely mutual surprise. When I told my kids last night, they were gobsmacked. Mick laughed and laughed. Books seem like immutable things to them -- how could they possibly be different in another country?

I did realise there must have been some adaptation-- the Mum thing in an American book is a giveaway, and Alexander Who Is Never Going to Move has distances in kilometres, but it didn't occur to me that I was living at the ends of the earth, no.

Emma

Kids in Mali?

[(Anonymous)]

Do you think the Mali version has the kid thinking: "Some days are like that, even in Baltimore"?

Emma

Re: Kids in Mali?

[(Anonymous)]

Probably not. The pattern of "it's all Greek to me," (which becomes "it's Chinese to me" in Greek and some other languages), never seems to work back around to, "it's English to me." Apparently, what is incomprehensible in Chinese is called, "the language of heaven," but you can't throw that kind of trump when talking about going places.

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

That really is just... delightful. I love that the Australian kids are going to Timbuktu. Thank you for sharing!

[netpositive.livejournal.com]

Ah, I haven't read the book so I didn't know the exact reference - but very entertaining to know the localization details. :)

My personal quotology referenced _Support Your Local Sheriff_ instead, where the main character is "just on his way to Australia...". Which works too. ;)

[lyrical1.livejournal.com]

I got the reference, and I love that book. I also love "Alexander, who was rich last Friday" too.

I always wondered as a teacher who read the book, but not as a child, where the kids in Australia wanted to move to. Good to know!

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

Love it!