slang and HP

[psychic_serpent]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "chanteuse thalia chaunacy" 
<thalia at a...> wrote:
  
> my question: is this all 'normal' slang? do you, as people of the 
> UK, understand every single word? or does JKR get creative, you 
> know, make up her own uses for words? or does she use 'outdated' 
> words? (does anybody *really* say 'blimey' anymore? or has it gone 
> the way of 'rad' in the US?)
 
Heavens, I must be ancient, since "rad" came and went after I left 
school.  I'm not a Brit, but I see 'blimey' quite often in other UK 
books that have not been Americanized (or 'Americanised').  A nice 
book to look at for some kids' dialogue which hasn't been changed 
(my copy even has UK spellings) is Nick Hornby's "About a Boy."  

As for JKR's choice of slang, it's worth noting that while I was 
once upbraided by a Britpicker for having a character say, "Man," as 
an exclamation in a fanfiction, I KNEW for certain that I'd seen JKR 
use this in one of the books.  Upon closer inspection, however, it 
turned out to be coming out of the mouth of Lee Jordan.  Inasmuch as 
Lee is described as having dreadlocks, it's possible that this and 
his use of "man" is meant to signify a Jamaican background.  (In 
which case I suppose it would be pronounced "Mon.")  It's 
interesting that, on top of everything else, JKR seems to even have 
the characters using ethnically-appropriate (if stereotypical) 
slang.  I'm not remembering whether we were ever told if Lee's a 
Muggle-born, but that would probably further explain his use of this 
term.

The only major character who uses relatively colorful wizard-related 
exclamations is Hagrid, which is where I think JKR is just making 
things up.  I do wish fanfiction authors would stop having the 
characters--especially the teens--say things like "Merlin's beard!" 
or "Great Hekate!"  JKR never has the students say things like that.


--Barb



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