[HPforGrownups] Day trip to DC!/Hermione pronunciation

[Sister Mary Lunatic]

No: HPFGUIDX 641

Good to see you back, FFA.  Did you tell your business associates who you
REALLY were?  Did you apparate to the USA or use one of those muggle
transports?  I have the feeling you could hike into the mountains of
Afghanistan and find people eager to talk about the latest Harry Potter
book!


-----Original Message-----
From: Neil Ward [mailto:neilward at dircon.co.uk]
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2000 3:43 AM
To: HPforGrownups at egroups.com
Subject: [HPforGrownups] Day trip to DC!/Hermione pronunciation

Hi everyone,

I've just returned from a 'day trip' to Washington, DC (which took more than
two days if you count the delightful plane rides at either end).  I knew I
would face a full e-mail box on my return (about 230 messages - errrr - I
can cope), but that new clutch of 'how to pronounce Hermione' posts made me
feel I was right back in the roost.

I was one of the people who suggested, before, that some accents blur the
middle syllables of Hermione, to give the impression of Her-mah-nee and also
that some people appear not to be able to detect the inflection if it is
very slight. Amazingly, I do have something *new* to add to this debate.
It's from "Fowler's Modern English Usage", regarding the word 'medieval'.

Fowler says:

"It is pronounced me-di-EE-val, with four syllables, although me-DEE-val or
mi-DEE-val, with three syllables, is common in AmE [American English]."

Obviously, there is a parallel with the word 'Hermione', which might explain
why some people still insist that the name has only three syllables.  I
couldn't imagine pronouncing medieval with three syllables myself, but it
seems to be an accepted alternative in the States.

Back in Washington, on Tuesday evening, we went out for dinner with the
people we were visiting (business associates) and at one point the
conversation turned, unexpectedly, to Harry Potter.  I nearly choked on my
Portobello mushrooms, but managed to look nonchalant.  Everyone in their
office had read all the books and were very excited about them.  Their
'President' (a rather overly grand title, I thought) reads the books to his
8 year old daughter and reckons Hogwarts Castle is modelled on Fettes School
in Edinburgh, where Tony Blair was educated.  I guess that would make Tony
an old Fettesian or Fetteshist or Fettlock or... something.

Anyway, this Harry Potter 'bonding session' was a great boost to our
business meeting the next day: we'd become like old friends overnight.  I
considered launching into the Hogwarts school song over the breakfast coffee
to see if they would all join in, but then realised I had to be serious for
a few hours.  *So* close to making a fool of myself...

Glad to be back in Blighty!

Neil

            Flying-Ford-Anglia

 *****************************************

   "Then, dented, scratched and steaming,
   the car rumbled off into the darkness,
   its rear lights blazing angrily"

 [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]

 *****************************************




To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
HPforGrownups-unsubscribe at egroups.com