[HPFGU-Movie] Re: WorkoutDan and Study Hall

[Shaun Hately]

On 29 Jan 2006 at 17:35, Karen Chuplis wrote:

> 
> On Sunday, January 29, 2006, at 03:56 PM, Shaun Hately wrote:
> 
> > Newell, I think did a very credible job - but I am probably somewhat
> > unusual in how important this is to me.
> > http://www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/HSWW.html is evidence of that
> > (and in my view worth reading if people don't know that much about
> > the British public school tradition and how (I and others think) it
> > has influenced Hogwarts.
> >
> 
> Really interesting essay! I was wondering about Dudleys Smelting stick. 
> Can you shed any light on the purpose of that or it's evolution? (P.S. 
> the description of its apparent use by JKR via Harry is one of my 
> favorite bits of humor in the books "They also carried knobbly sticks, 
> used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This 
> was supposed to be good training for later life.").

In simple terms, the Smelting sticks simply seem to be part of 
Smelting's uniform. Historically, there were a number or Public 
Schools that had walking canes, or umbrellas as part of their 
uniform. School uniforms were, to an extent, based on the fashions in 
place when they were introduced and if the fashion at the time 
included a stick, sometimes that was translated into school uniform 
as well. Most got rid of them a while ago (a number during World War 
II - boys had to carry gas masks during the war and a number of 
schools changed their rules on carried items, or on hats at that time 
to make that easier). The comment about the sticks being used for 
hitting each other is probably very tongue in cheek - I doubt the 
school officially regards that as the purpose of the sticks (as 
evidenced by the fact that boys don't do it when staff are looking) - 
although it's very possible that such useage is unofficially 
tolerated.

Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia