[HPforGrownups] Re: Typos

John Walton john at walton.to
Wed Aug 15 16:41:07 UTC 2001


No: HPFGUIDX 24215

Horst or Rebecca J. Bohner said:

> But it should be "...he isn't exactly hard to SPOT", not miss.  If you say
> someone isn't hard to MISS, you're saying that they're easily overlooked.
> 
> Saying that the enormous Madame Maxime "isn't exactly hard to miss" is
> nonsensical.  I have to agree with those who've called it as an error.

I agree, although it is a bit confusing with the triple negative. Here's the
logic:

"[Madame Maxime] wasn't exactly hard to miss."
means
"She was easy to miss" [because she was small, quiet -- not true]

IMO what JKR means here (and I'm not exactly unsure we've all done this with
double negatives) is:

"She wasn't exactly easy to miss."

--John
________________________________

John Walton -- john at walton.to

"One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back."
--Lewis Carroll, "The Jabberwocky"
________________________________





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