Running Weasels

[carolynwhite2]

--- In HPFGU-Catalogue at yahoogroups.com, "annemehr" <annemehr at y...> 
wrote:
> 
> I'm beginning to see references to that old "folktale" popping up 
(it
> has a yellow rat in, too) -- the one which nobody could find any
> references to, except in HP fandom.  Are we agreed that posts about
> that being a basis for Ron's character go into 0.7
> Mistakes/Perpetuating Mistakes?
> 

Um, do we know for definite it is a mistake? I thought that it was 
just another myth, neither definitely proved or disproved to be 
associated with HP, like much else? I'd tend to put it under Ron for 
the time being unless you are sure...


> 
> P.S. For much later: under 1.6 Other Sources and Influences, we may
> eventually need "fandom" (i.e. people believing JKR put certain 
things
> in OoP in response to the fandom), and "politics" or "government" 
for
> how the Ministry interfered at Hogwarts in OoP (unless we can just
> stick all that under Umbridge's category).  <--- Just some idle
> thoughts, really...

For now, I would tend to file such assertions under their relevant 
headings, plus tick 'reader response'. One arguable one might be the 
way she changed Dudders from being a fat pig in books 1-4, to being a 
boxing champ in OOP. I've coded about three hysterical threads 
moaning about how bad it is to describe kids as fat. It's an 
interesting moral point as to whether turning him into a more 
effective thumping machine is a better image for said kids. She may 
have got some grim satisfaction out of responding to her critics on 
that one, although in the UK, frankly it would be much more likely 
he'd become addicted to deep-fried Mars bars. 

Wonder if she is reading the current Snape thread on main....<g>

The government stuff I would tend to put in the MoM category in 
section 3, not under Umbridge when we get there, although we might 
need to create a sub-category specifically for educational decrees, 
discussion of educational policies etc