December 15th 2025

Some years ago, I had a thought about abridged and unabridged books. I wondered what would happen if we took the abridged version and subtracted it from the unabridged one.

What would be left is a new thing. The “bridged” edition. All the words nobody wants.

I wrote some code and tried this with several books – but abridging involves too much rewriting, the diffs were nonsense.

I had read the British and American version of Harry Potter and wondered if there might be difference beyond the normal loo becoming toilet, jumper becoming sweater, and motorbike becoming motorcycle.

I wondered if the bridged book code would work here.

tldr; check out the US-UK comparisons.

Dean Thomas

I expected mostly small dialect changes. Then my script produced this:

UK Version	US Version
And now there were only [three] people left to be sorted [] Turpin, Lisa” became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron’s turn.	And now there were only [four] people left to be sorted [Thomas, Dean,” a black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table] Turpin, Lisa,” became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron’s turn.

That’s … strange.

This description of Dean Thomas appears only in the American version. Was it in the original manuscript and later cut in the UK? Did the US editors ask for it to be added? I do not know.

Update: I spent some more time searching and found this explanation:

This was an editorial cut in the British version; my editor thought that chapter was too long and pruned everything that he thought was surplus to requirements. When it came to the casting on the film version of ‘Philosopher’s Stone’, however, I told the director, Chris, that Dean was a black Londoner. In fact, I think Chris was slightly taken aback by the amount of information I had on this peripheral character. I had a lot of background on Dean, though I had never found the right place to use it. His story was included in an early draft of ‘Chamber of Secrets’ but then cut by me, because it felt like an unnecessary digression. Now I don’t think his history will ever make it into the books.

The Code

I wrote a pipeline to compare the books. Ebooks are messy, so I had to clean them up before I could diff them.

Here is what I used:

Calibre: I used ebook-convert to extract raw text from different ebook formats.
Normalization: I used ftfy to fix Unicode problems. I also wrote regex rules for things like honorifics. The UK uses “Mr” while the US uses “Mr.”.
Comparison and ignoring: The tool walks through the books word by word. It checks a list of known dialect swaps and ignores pairs like “color” and “colour”, so the output is not flooded with spelling noise. I also used Double Metaphone. If two words sound the same, the script ignores them.

What Else Changed?

Here are a few odd changes among many:

Chamber of Secrets: Apparition Explanation

The US version adds a whole world-building segment that’s not in the UK version.

UK Version	US Version
And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it’s a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy…” [] Harry’s feeling of panic turned suddenly to excitement. “Can you fly it?”	And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it’s a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy – ” [“But your mum and dad…” said Harry, pushing against the barrier again in the vain hope that it would give way. “How will they get home?” “They don’t need the car!” said Ron impatiently. “They know how to Apparate! You know, just vanish and reappear at home! They only bother with Floo powder and the car because we’re all underage and we’re not allowed to Apparate yet…”] Harry’s feeling of panic turned suddenly to excitement. “Can you fly it?”

UK Version

US Version

And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it’s a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy…” [] Harry’s feeling of panic turned suddenly to excitement. “Can you fly it?”

And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it’s a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy – ” [“But your mum and dad…” said Harry, pushing against the barrier again in the vain hope that it would give way. “How will they get home?” “They don’t need the car!” said Ron impatiently. “They know how to Apparate! You know, just vanish and reappear at home! They only bother with Floo powder and the car because we’re all underage and we’re not allowed to Apparate yet…”] Harry’s feeling of panic turned suddenly to excitement. “Can you fly it?”

Chamber of Secrets: Lucius Malfoy’s Entrance

The US version gives Lucius Malfoy a rougher entrance. It explains why he looks disheveled – Dobby was wiping his shoes. The UK version cuts this context.

UK Version	US Version
[This entire section is missing]	Apparently Mr. Malfoy had set out in a great hurry, for not only were his shoes half-polished, but his usually sleek hair was disheveled. Ignoring the elf bobbing apologetically around his ankles…

Prisoner of Azkaban: Dementor Release

The US version is more explicit about the Dementor letting Harry go.

UK Version	US Version
Facedown, too weak to move, sick and shaking, Harry opened his eyes. [] The blinding light was illuminating the grass around him.	Facedown, too weak to move, sick and shaking, Harry opened his eyes. [The dementor must have released him.] The blinding light was illuminating the grass around him.

Deathly Hallows: The Ear Joke

There’s an ear-joke adjustment.

UK Version	US Version
Not so fast, [Lugless] said Fred, and darting past the gaggle of middle-aged witches heading…	Not so fast, [Your Holeyness] said Fred, and darting past the gaggle of middle-aged witches heading…

The Reports

I generated interactive reports for all seven books. I’ve left out all the Mom/Mum and Color/Colour changes but otherwise, you can use the filters to see the actual additions and removals.

I am working on generalizing the code so I can use it for other comparisons soon. If you find any other odd differences in the reports, let me know.

Greg.Randall

The Bridged Edition