Divination book title

[geoffbannister123 at btinternet.com]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "kemper" <kempermentor at ...> wrote:

zanooda:
> > > Hi guys, I have a question: one of the Divination books Harry notices at Flourish and Blotts in PoA is called "Broken Balls: When the Fortunes Turn Foul". I'd like to find out what the expression "broken balls" means here. Are they crystal balls? Or some, er, different kind of balls :-)? This is needed for a translation. Can anyone help me with that? Thanks :-).

Geoff:
> > I'll put my money on crystal balls. They are traditionally associated with fortune telling.
 
> > I don't think that Flourish and Blotts would deal with, "er, different kinds of balls".
 
Kemper:
> While I agree with Geoff that it's referring to crystal balls, I think JKR is playing with the expression 'breaking my balls'.
 
> Here's an example,
> Fortune:  Hey man, you're going to be house rich in about a year-
> Man: Kickass!
> F: then the housing market will collapse two months after that-
> M: Lame.
> F: but you won't mind because you will be madly-
> M: 'in love' oh thank god
> F: insane-
> M: wtf
> F: because you will have been tortured for six weeks prior to the collapse.
> M: You're really breaking my balls here, Fortune.
> 
> So I can see where JKR is using a double entendre with 'Broken Balls'.  

Geoff:
Hm. Well, JKR must have picked that up in the US. It's not a UK English
idiom.