some Brit expressions found in HP

pbnesbit at msn.com pbnesbit at msn.com
Thu Mar 8 17:39:56 UTC 2001


--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Doreen" <nera at r...> wrote:
> These and many more, would have been quite useful while reading 
HP ... and I will have it handy when I get my British editions.
> 
> All right? - This is used a lot around London and the south to 
mean, "Hello, how are you"? You would say it to a complete stranger 
or someone you knew. The normal response would be for them to 
say "All right"? back to you. It is said as a question. Sometimes it 
might get expanded to "all right mate"? Mostly used by blue collar 
workers but also common among younger people. 
> 
> Hagrid is always saying, "All right, Harry?"

So's Colin Creevy.  

(Snip)
> 
> Filch - To filch is to steal or pilfer. The origin is apparently 
unknown (wow.. right there, obvious as heck and I never gave it any 
thought... I guess I enjoyed his character too much to attach any 
meaning to his name)

What a *perfect* name for the character!! Jo rivals Dickens in 
creating descriptive names for many of her characters.  I love it!
> 
> 
> There are just way too many of these at: 
http://www.effingpot.com/index.html
> 
> I do have to include this one, though.. (When I read it, I thought 
of, "Be quiet so as not to knock up the cat." ... in USA they frown 
on that)
> 
> Knock up - This means to wake someone up. Although it seems to have 
an altogether different meaning in the USA! At one time, in England, 
a chap was employed to go round the streets to wake the workers up in 
time to get to work. He knew where everyone lived and tapped on the 
bedroom windows with a long stick, and was known as a "knocker up". 
He also turned off the gas street lights on his rounds. Another 
meaning of this phrase, that is more common these days, is to make 
something out of odds and ends. For example my Dad knocked up a tree 
house for us from some planks of wood he had in the garage, or you 
might knock up a meal from whatever you have hanging around in the 
fridge. 

And if you're from the US & you speak British English as your first 
language, you *really, really* have to be careful about this one.  
Gets either one of two reactions:  total incomprehension or (at least 
among us older folks who know what US knocked up means) a swift kick 
in the...portion of the anatomy left to your imagination <g>
> 
> Doreen, who loves British expressions ... does that make me an 
Anglophile?

It's a good start! <g>  Just throw some in a conversation, drool over 
pictures/descriptions, subscribe to every British magazine you can 
afford, and tell yourself I *will* get to Britain before I get too 
old to enjoy it & you're an Anglophile 

Parker (who is *damn sure* she was born in the wrong country)





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