The re-writing of Roald Dahl

Funnily enough, I was reading an essay about this kind of thing, only yesterday [0]in a quest to find the answer to something that's been infuriating me for ages now. Namely: Why, so often when I download an British book by an British author set in Britain has it been "translated" into American English?

What is with Americans that they're so insular and parochial that they can't even cope with reading a book in "English.. [or Australian.. or Indian.. or Irish.. ] ...English" but must be hand-held through the reading experience, by having it translated into their own version? Would it really confuse you so much to see the odd "centre" or "colour" or have someone don a pair of "trousers"?

As a UK reader, if I'm reading a book by a US author, set in America, I'm quite prepared to see "color" and "center", have people put "gas" in their cars and encounter business men going out in their "pants" [1]. It's part of the local colour [or "color"] for the story. But, when I get hold of an ebook by a British author and suddenly encounter someone walking through the "center" of London, down the "sidewalk" admiring the "color" of the "shopping mall" windows, it just dumps me out of the narrative, because the narrator in my head has suddenly switched from a neutral English voice to a jarring American drawl.

[0] https://journals.akademicka.pl/moap/article/download/1211/10... [Link is to PDF]

[1] Actually, I've mellowed a bit on this one, since moving to the North of England, many years ago and finding that "pants" [for trousers] is common currency in Lancashire.

Archived version: https://archive.is/hZRWc