DH sign +pantomime horse

[geoff_bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "zanooda2" <zanooda2 at ...> wrote:
>
> --- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67@> wrote:
> 
> > "Pantomime" just means a wordless acting out, as in the 
> > game of Charades--in this case, pretending to be a horse. 
 
zanooda:
> But I thought it was "a pantomime" in the British sense, meaning a Christmas entertainment for children, a play based on fairy tales and such. It includes jokes and songs, so it's definitely not wordless :-). 

Geoff:
That's a good definition. Some stories are also traditional tales or based on 
historic figures. Commonly produced in the UK are "Cinderella", "Aladdin", 
"Jack and the Beanstalk", "Red Riding Hood" and, in the last category I 
mentioned, "Dick Whittington".

We occasionally will talk about someone making a pantomime of 
something meaning that they are not really taking things seriously. 
The idea of a charade is not commonly mentioned in modern culture.

zanooda:
> "A pantomime horse" is a costume of a horse used in such a play - you know, one actor plays the front part of the horse and the second one - the rear part, and they both share the same costume :-). "Pantomime horse" is an expression, I thought. Am I right about this, Geoff?
 
> If you are interested in the context, it's when Harry and Hermione Apparate to Godric's Hollow, and the book says that Harry didn't want to enter the village "like a pantomime horse". I thought it was because Hermione offered go behind him under the Cloak and cover the tracks, and this made him think about this costume - you know, he is in the front, she is in the back and they are both covered by the Cloak :-). I'm not sure now that I understand it correctly...

Geoff:
I'm glad you gave the context. I've been scratching my head wondering 
where the heck this question came from.
:-)

I believe that Harry's thought here was that they would be blundering 
along getting in each other's way. There is a phrase about being "the back 
end of a pantomime horse". A pantomime horse costume is usually rather 
garishly coloured and worn by two people where the person at the back has 
to be guided by the leader and also has to avoid treading on the leader's feet. 
Hence it is a rather clumsy way of getting around. they are usually employed 
in a pantomime as one form of comic activity.