Talk:Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone/Archive 1

Similarities
This page is remarkably similar to the Wikipedia page on the same topic. Do we know if this is allowed? 69.196.182.171 01:17, 26 Jul 2005 (UTC)
 * We both operate under the GFDL, so it's technically acceptable, but we prefer to have unique content. If anyone could take the time to rewrite it...? Hermione1980 21:53, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Does this page really need a spoiler tag? --Amxitsa 19:28, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Until we come up with a policy regarding spoiler tags, yes. I think that's currently being discussed on the Community Portal. Hermione1980 21:53, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Pictures
A couple of the pictures near the bottom appear to have the wrong discription below, but I'm not sure how to edit picture discriptions. - Palmala 08:50, 29 May 2008

The title of the article
The title of the book and the film is not Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but it is Harry Potter and the Sourcerer's Stone, and the article should be titled correctly. Anyone who was writing this article should have known the correct title before writing it. I don't mean to offend, but I find it ironic that all this knowledge on Harry Potter is contained in this site and then an incorrect title is presented.

It is corecct. We use British English, not American.--Rodolphus 15:36, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
 * It even says that in the second paragraph.-- Matoro 183 (Talk) 16:47, 21 July 2009 (UTC)

The man in chapter 1
In the first chapter, Vernon walks into a wizard after work dressed in a violent cloak. Was this anyone in particular, or just a generic wizard?
 * I dont think it was Orangerichard56 (talk) 18:38, October 25, 2013 (UTC)

Time Period
What evidence is there to say that The Harry Potter books take place between 1991 and 1997? Is Nick's Deathday Party the only one? Edge578 03:03, November 29, 2009 (UTC)
 * That and:
 * Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore's dates in J.K.Rowling Official Site;
 * James and Lily Potter's dates of birth/death on their graves in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
 * --  Seth Cooper  owl post! 03:13, November 29, 2009 (UTC)

Mysterious person on the US cover
You can see a leg and arm holding a candle on the bottom right of the cover. Who is this supposed to be? --Edge578 05:03, February 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * hmmm.....i dont see it......ur links not working and i cant find it on any of the other scholastic covers Alumeng 22:27, October 7, 2011 (UTC)
 * I think that's supposed to be a reference to the Midnight Duel scene, or just one of the sneaking-past-Filch-at-night scenes. --  Seth Cooper  owl post! 22:45, October 7, 2011 (UTC)

Origin of the american title.
Anybody got any idea on how and why the title was changed in the american version? Ngebendi 21:37, March 16, 2010 (UTC)
 * It was thought by Scholastic that American Children would not read anything with the word Philosopher in the title. --JKoch Ravenclawcrest.jpg(Owl Me! ) 21:39, March 16, 2010 (UTC)
 * You'd be surprised by what children can and do read. But then, things have probably changed from the time I was a kid. Thanks! Ngebendi 23:30, March 16, 2010 (UTC)
 * i'd sure like to know the official reason
 * the official reason is that American kids probably wouldn't be familiar with the Philosopher's Stone legend. Which we aren't. Alumeng 22:24, October 7, 2011 (UTC)

Lead paragraph
In the lead, in the section about renaming the book for the American market, should that parenthetical "practice" be changed to "practise"? -- Cubs Fan (Talk to me)  01:40, November 20, 2010 (UTC)

Book Description?
The book description provided seems to be from the American Scholastic edition, if I am correct. Isn't there a different one for the U.K. Bloomsbury edition? I happen to have both copies and here is one of the Bloomsbury editions (ISBN 978 0 7475 3269 9): "Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy--until he is rescued by a beetle-eyed giant of a man, enrols at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learns to play Quidditch and does battle in a deadly duel. The Reason...

HARRY POTTER IS A WIZARD!" It's not as detailed and descriptive as the Scholastic, Inc., version, so instead of replacing it, should we just add it to follow the http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Harry_Potter_Wiki:Policy#Spelling policy? And in the above quotation from the back of the book, is "enrols" spelled correctly according to British people, or is it "enrolls" with two l's? --Roselyne33 03:01, November 27, 2010 (UTC)

Troll in the Dungeons
Here's a question about something that happens. When Quirell runs in screaming "Troll in the dungeons", Dumbledore tells them to return to there dormitories. Is he just not thinking, or trying to get rid of all the Slytherins, cause if you haven't noticed, THEY LIVE IN THE DUNGEONS!!!! Dumbledore: Kind Old Man, or Malicious Would-Be Killer? Killercroc72 02:45, July 11, 2011 (UTC)
 * thanks for a good laugh - I sure didn't catch that oneWonka2011 03:02, October 11, 2011 (UTC)

Dungeons
I think that there are like 5 different dungeons with different entrances all over the castle. the Slytherin dungeon has its own entrance, and then there are probably a lot of other ones since theres also the basements and all those random chambers. Alumeng 22:30, October 7, 2011 (UTC)
 * You can get to the Slytherin dormitories by going through the enterance in the Black Lake. Rainbow Shifter (talk) 11:05, August 26, 2012 (UTC)

The Sunday Telegraph
The quote at the top of this article says that The Sunday Telegraph said ...this is a terrific book.... How are we supposed to understand it? Should we take it as that they hate the book, or that it is terrific in a good way? --80.163.76.102 10:16, August 26, 2012 (UTC)
 * There is no bad way of saying terrific, it is a positive word meaning "great" or something like that. And you can only say it in a good way anyway. Rainbow Shifter (talk) 11:03, August 26, 2012 (UTC)
 * Oops, just realised I mixed it up with terrifying. My bad. --80.163.76.102 10:17, September 2, 2012 (UTC)
 * As Terry Pratchett pointed out in Lords and Ladies, this confusion is understandable; "terrific" originally meant "inspiring terror", but its meaning has changed over the centuries. — RobertATfm (talk) 09:52, May 16, 2014 (UTC)

US editions... New cover = New chapter art??
I have not found anything on this yet, so I'm hoping someone else has. Will the new US editions feature new chapter art? It would look weird in my opinion to have the old chapter art with a new cover. They're drawn in two very different styles. -- PerryPeverell 23:36, February 26, 2013 (UTC)
 * At the moment, this seems to be unclear. However, given that Amazon.com's listings still list Mary Grandpre as an illustrator, I'm thinking maybe it's only the covers that are changed. ProfessorTofty (talk) 23:57, February 26, 2013 (UTC)

German interwiki link
I just checked four of the interwiki language links, because looking at the edit history, it appeared as if I accidentally deleted those four in an edit back in December. (It turned out that I hadn't; I must have deleted them because they were duplicates of links further up or down the page. Hard to remember after nearly six months.)

However, it looks as if the German one should be deleted, as it leads only to a blank page; unless of course an editor on that wiki can be persuaded to create the page. Something to look into? — RobertATfm (talk) 17:54, June 2, 2015 (UTC)
 * An actual page on the German wiki exists, it was just under a different title (the link had the German word for "book" in parenthesis, whereas their article, like ours, is simply under the title with no differentiation). I fixed it. -- 1337star (Drop me a line!) 20:31, June 2, 2015 (UTC)