godric's hollow ... Preposition use varies from country to country

[nera at rconnect.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 17446

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Morag Traynor" <moragt at h...> wrote:
> 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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While I agree that Mr Smith might not turn up IN Rose Cottage, 
Voldemort *could* turn up IN Godric's Hollow (the cottage) because he 
is IN the cottage to kill the Potters.

Most people turn up AT someone's house and only go IN when they are 
invited. I doubt that Voldie was waiting for an invitation, but 
rather wished to use the element of surprise. Therefore, he just 
might have turned up IN the cottage, sort of like the bogeyman under 
the bed. 

This whole thread has me giggling for some strange reason.

Doreen, who is IN da house!
***************************