[HPforGrownups] Re: godric's hollow ... Preposition use varies from country to country

[Morag Traynor]

No: HPFGUIDX 17429

Doreen wrote:
> > Doreen quoted:
> > <snip>
> > >In "The Boy Who Lived", SS, Macgonagall says, "What they're saying,
> > >she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's
> > >Hollow
>
>
>
>  Agree it's a village - it never occurred to me it was anything else,
>but the above quote is a clincher.  People turn up "in" villages
>and "at" houses.
>************************************
<snip re US "on a street", UK "in a street">

>The "IN" Godric's Hollow line is the same in both books, but "in"
>does not always mean the same in UK as it does in US. I do not know
>where you are from. (sorry) I only know that the prepostion thing has
>me totally confused. I still say it could be either way... Godric's
>Hollow could be a house. :)

I'm British and using British version of the text.  This is interesting!  
IMO, in British English, the only way a person or a thing could "turn up in" 
a house would be if the person or thing was missing and then found to have 
been in the house all the time.  E.g. "I thought I'd left my hat in your 
house, but it turned up in mine."  This would still work if you substituted 
house names.  You would never say "Mr Smith turned up in my house" meaning 
he arrived unexpectedly - that would definitely be "Mr Smith turned up at my 
house", or "Mr Smith turned up at Rose Cottage", even if Mr Smith Apparated 
in the living room.  And even if V *did* Apparate in Godric's Hollow, 
they're talking about his arrival, not how he got there.  Is that different 
in US English?  Even if it is, JKR is a Brit, and I'd have to assume that's 
what she meant.  Of course, there's nothing to rule out a house called 
Godric's Hollow in a village called Godric's Hollow, though it would be an 
odd name for a house and a likely name for a village! :)
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