Fred or George (was Merchandise for Christmas...)

[Ebony]

No: HPFGUIDX 8043

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
>  Ellen and others who prefer Fred to George or George to Fred, tell 
me:  what's the difference between them, as you see it?  I can't tell 
who's talking half the time, much less notice a difference in their 
personalities.

Thanks, Amy.  I'd like to know the differences too.  I really didn't 
notice any until GoF.

At first, I thought Fred was the mouth and George was the brain of 
the duo.  But in GoF (Ch. 23, "The Dream"?), when Harry, Ron, and 
Hermione are up in the owlery they overhear a conversation between 
the twins.  Fred wants to go ahead and "convince" Bagman to pay the 
money they won in the World Cup bet; George is saying "it's wrong, 
it's blackmail".  From this, I'd say the blackmail is Fred's idea and 
George is trying to talk him out of it.

Hmm... interesting to contemplate.  How do you differentiate between 
the twins?  Which one is older?  Which one more assertive?  Which one 
more introspective?  

We have evidence that their own mother (PS/SS) and father (GoF) can't 
tell them apart.  One wonders if JKR has separate Fred and George 
characterization files... or if all of their traits fall into one 
catch-all "Twin" category.  And if she hasn't thought of them 
separately, how can we, as the reader?

Of course, I have my own impressions, which are perhaps not supported 
by the books.  Needless to say, I hope this thread of discussion 
isn't dropped immediately.

--Ebony