Brit speak was: Re: the casting of Emma Thompson as prof. trelawney

[Ali]

I, Ali wrote:

>>There still are phrases which I do not believe an English child 
would say, but on the whole,the films have retained the basic 
character of the books.>>
 
>> Lee asked:
Curiosity striketh...to what phrases do you refer?  Curious American 
minds who love "Brit speak" want to know. :-)>>

Ali again:

The bit which manages to bug me everytime I hear it is when any of 
the kids call any one other than their teachers "sir". Teachers are 
commonly called "sir" or "miss", afterall people are lazy, and it's 
quicker than saying Mr So-and-so or whatever, but British kinds 
don't call their parents or their friends "sir". 

I know when I first saw PS, Harry sounded funny saying "I haven't 
any money" rather than "I haven't got any money" which was in the 
book, PS. That didn't sound quite right to me although was minor. As 
a generalisation, Brits add in the word "got" to the present tense 
of the verb "to have2 eg "Have you got?" not "Do you have?"

In PoA, Harry calls the twins "guys". I haven't decided whether that 
does sound right or not. Brits do now use the term "guy", but I'm 
tempted to think that in that sentence, Brits would just have 
said "come on" rather than "come on guys". 

I know these are small nitpicks, and certainly pale into 
insignificance when compared with my total disgust at the film 
ending of CoS, or even turning Hermione into Superwoman!Hermione 
(and Ron into a clown) in PoA, but I feel they should have got it 
right! I suspect that Steve Kloves etc, wouldn't know that British 
kids don't say "sir", and perhaps David Heyman lived in the States 
so long he forgot.

Ali