A mum’s attempt to treat her daughter with a Harry Potter book took a hilarious turn when she received the ‘Scottish Edition’ of the Philosopher’s Stone featuring ‘The Laddie Wha Lived’.
The iconic book, which has sold over 120 million copies since its 2001 release, was translated into Scottish by Matthew Fitt and has been causing quite the stir on Reddit.
The cover, a familiar sight for fans, features the slight tweak of ‘Stone’ to ‘Stane’, and the translation credit: “Translatit intae Scots by Matthew Fitt.”
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The bewildered parent shared a picture of the unexpected find online, writing: “Accidentally ordered my English daughter the Scottish translated version of Harry Potter.” Diving into the pages reveals a text transformed by Fitt’s strong Scots rendition, making the opening lines of J. K. Rowling’s beloved book almost alien to those unfamiliar with the dialect.
Rowling’s original prose begins: “Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.”
Fitt translated the text, however, writing: “Mr and Mrs Durley, o nummer fower, Privet Loan, were prood tae say that they were gae normal, thank ye verra much. They were the lest fowk ye wid jalouse wid be taigled up wi onythin unco or weird, because they jist didnae haud wi havers like yon.”
The perplexed mum posted snaps of the book to the r/MildlyInfuriating subreddit, only for her blunder to be mocked. One Reddit user couldn’t help but laugh, saying: “I understand why this would be mildly infuriating but goddamn it’s f*****g hilarious. I need this in my life.”
(Image: Warner Bros)
In what could only be described as an incredible mishap, the mum revealed she later repeated her mistake. She responded light-heartedly: “Oh trust me I find it soo funny, the worst thing is though after realising my mistake, I told her to get the Matilda book I ordered at the same time so she could read that. Managed to also order her the Welsh version of Matilda – I don’t know how I managed both in one order – but I did it! “.
Another reddit user joked: “Well, that’s one way to introduce her to a new language and culture! Time for some Scottish magic and a wee bit of confusion mixed in.” A second said: “She’ll at the least be a little cultured after the read.”
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