[HPFGU-Movie] mysterious "a-words" now we're REALLY confused

[SALeathem at aol.com]

-- In HPFGU-Movie at y..., dawncad1 at y... wrote:
<< > 
> > 
> > So if "a--" isn't "ass" (or "arse") what the bloody hell is it? 
(g)
 <snip> 
> I'm pretty sure Malfoy said "a-s-s". After seeing the movie the
first 
> time, I was discussing this with my friend. We were both surprised 
> that a child was allowed to say it in a PG movie. In US television, 
> saing a-s-s is no longer censored, I don't know if this is the case 
> for other countries, but I was still shocked to hear a child say it 
> in a children's film. >>

Not censored in the UK, hasn't been for a very long time. In fact, there's 
only one 4 letter word (not the f one) that is still censored on British TV. 
I think you can say pretty much everything else (after 9pm, which is the 
watershed time). And even then it's not going to be long before they stop 
censoring it.

The language in the movie was tame by normal british-kids-that-age standards. 
Really, it was. Very tame.


Ivis wrote:
<< OK. Here's how I understand this. Malfoy says "arse" in the film at
some point [which I don't remember after 2 viewings, probably 
because I was so exercised about Ron saying "bloody brilliant" to 
McGonagall]. How do I know he says "arse"? because the word
"ass" in British English, as far as I know,  means donkey, and I 
can' t think of a situation where Malfoy would reference such a creature. >>

As for when. First flying lesson. Neville flies off and gets caught on a flag 
pole (or something), his robes tear and he falls to the ground. Madam Hooch 
takes him to the hospital wing and Malfoy finds Neville's rememberall. He 
then shows everyone what he's got and says (roughly):

"maybe if he'd given this a shake he'd have remembered to fall on his fat 
arse" (lots of sniggering).

After that, Harry tells malfoy to give it back, they end up flying and that's 
when Harry is witnessed by McGonagall catching the rememberall. Next thing, 
he's been taken off to see Oliver Wood about Quidditch. 
Yes, arse means bum, backside etc. Americans have a word for the same body 
part, that in the UK means something very different, and it's not something 
you want to go about saying to anyone. So just be careful :) 


<< However, what a lot of Americans don't know is that the "r" in arse
is silent. So yes, the words "arse" and "ass" sound the same.  Sort of. 
In fact, I learned when I worked in London that when English-speakers
[as opposed to American-speakers] want to indicate what we 
Americans call an "ah" sound, they write "ar". Yes it's true. Think about
the singer Sade, who for years over here in the US was called "ShaRday" 
because that's what her  British publicists put out as the pronunciation, 
meaning of course "Sha-day". >>

Umm, not all of us. Only those born in the south & posh people. The rest 
don't add r's to words that have none (ie: Bath & Path, and France which, 
while it has the one R, has just that - One R. Not several, as you might 
think when someone from the south says it).


<< Getting back to the a-word, like "bloody brilliant" I don't remember
"arse" in the book. Maybe Steve Kloves thought they needed to 
modernise things a bit. >>

I don't think it was so much that. In the books there is the suggestion of 
worse swear words than arse or bloody (if you still class such as swearing, 
and really, I don't, nor do I think any of the kids the same age as HRH are 
in the movie/books would) in the books, but due to the age group the 
publishers aim the books at, or maybe because JKR wants the universal appeal, 
we don't actually hear them. Instead, we hhave McGonagall shouting "JORDAN!", 
or Hermione saying "RON!". In cases where Hermione's not around to say "RON!" 
we get something like - 

Ron said a word that would have made Hermione say "RON!" 

(There was another version but I can't find it right now, but you get the 
idea).

On this whole subject of swearing, 'git' is a swear word too y'know. I don't 
know if it's known in the US, but it is in the UK. But again, very mild. 

Sara