Cultural Clues to locations/origins

[Hannah Roderick]

No: HPFGUIDX 22729

Hi all!  It's nice to have something to contribute to the list for a change
... I guess there are some advantages to being a Brit, after all!  ::grins::

Al wrote:  I *wouldn't* place  Little
> > Hangleton here, but it sounds like the kind of place that might be
> > somewhere along the south coast, Kent or Sussex, maybe.
>
Amy replied:  Huh.  I picture it as distinctly inland--something about the
> claustrophobia of the pub, house, and graveyard, and the fact that it
> has a hill (I know seacoast towns can have hills too, but it just
> isn't what I picture when I think of the coast).

I'm with Amy.  Definitely inland. In my experience, seaside is never as
claustrophobic (or creepy) as inland.   I always envisioned Little Hangleton
being somewhere like the wilds of Yorkshire.  Picture this: the wind
wuthering around the Riddle House, rain lashing down against the windows,
hark - is that a hound baying out on the moors?  The perfect atmosphere for
sinister goings-on.  Plus, little seaside towns are often rather more likely
to be visited by tourists than inland settlements (and especially when Tom
Riddle was young) - so if Little Hangleton were a seaside town, surely they
would have been used to strangers coming and going, and Frank wouldn't have
looked twice at young Tom.

Al wrote :  > > Cokeworth sounds to me like a northern industrial city, a la
> Coketown
> > in Dickens' 'Hard Times.'  A dreary place with run down warehouses
> > and a decaying canal.  I think this is probably what JK was thinking
> > of too.  'Railview Hotel' certainly calls to mind a large
> marshalling
> > yard or something.  Maybe Crewe?
>

To me, Cokeworth also screams northern industrial city.  I've been to
Manchester, and stayed in an inner-city (for inner-city read ""roughest area
in Britain") hotel which was very similar to the "Railview Hotel", vile food
and all.  ::shudder::

Al Wrote :  > > As for characters: Dean sounds like an Essex lad to me.  To
be a
> Hammer, he probably has to be from somewhere in East London.  If he
> was north, he'd be an Arsenal or Tottenham man, if he was south of
> the river, he'd be with Millwall or Charlton.  West Ham to me smacks
> slightly of that whole area of London for its supporter base (if I'm
> wrong, tell me) ... I conceive Dean as from a fairly well off family
> who have done well in Muggle business, and moved out to the more
> expensive suburbs from Hackney or Tower Hamlets.  Lee is probably
> from the same area, or possibly Brixton in the South.  He has the
> character, I think, of a genuine Souwf Londoner ... a bit of a
> geezer, but with a heart of gold, kind of an artful dodger type.  In
> terms of Afro-Caribbean communities outside London, there aren't very
> many of great significance ... so a fair bet they're both Londoners

I agree with the placement of both Dean and Lee, although cannot verify the
footbal-related evidence as I do not know my West Ham from my Arsenal!  But
I'm very impressed by your knowledge of the location of football
supporters, Al - sport has always been way above my head; same with algebra
:)

Amy said :  > This is great!  I just named Dean, Lee, and Madam Pomfrey at
random.
> Feel free to continue with other characters.  (I don't think Madam P
> is French, myself.  Ethnically French, certainly, but not with a
> French accent.  I think it would come through on the page.)  Anyone
> care to take on the Weasleys?  Some people have commented <MOVIE ALERT
> ON> that they have London accents in the movie <MOVIE ALERT OFF>, but
> there's that Devonshire comment--I found it, btw, and it was by Edis.
>  Perhaps Edis will tell us deprived folk who have never been to the
> West Country except via Daphne du Maurier novels what about Ottery St.
> Catchpole shouts "Devon!"

MOVIE ALERT The Weasley's certainly can't live in London, going on Canon
evidence.  However, my way
of justifying the London accents in the movie is that Mr and Mrs Weasley are
both Londoners who moved to the country because it was cheaper to buy a hous
e, and a pleasanter and safer environment in which to bring up a family.
There isn't evidence to say that the Weasley kids have mixed with local
Muggle children, or that they went to a local primary school, where they
would have had the opportunity to pick up the accent.  Presumably, then,
they were home-educated, so their accents would be taken directly from their
parents, without outside influence.  So that's how the kids could come to
have London accents, even if they were living in ... Devon or somewhere
else.  END MOVIE ALERT.  However, my take on the Weasleys has always been
that they are Welsh.  I have always imagined them with strong Northern Welsh
accents.  I cannot back this up, as there is no evidence in canon for it (as
far as I am aware) but when I read any Weasley dialogue, my mind seems to
automatically fill in the accent for me.  It took me a while to get used to
the Stephen Fry reading, in which they have *english* accents, and quite
posh ones at that!  I have always pictured Uncle Vernon having a strong
northern dialect, again without any canon evidence.  Perhaps it's just that
I have read PS and CoS aloud to my grandmother, and like to keep myself
amused by throwing in all the different accents I can do.  Yes, that's
probably it ;)

Personellement, I also don't think that Madam Pomfrey is French, although I
did wonder about it when I first read the books.  But after seeing Fleur and
Madam Maxime's dialogue being "Frenchified", I feel it's safe to say that
the evidence suggests she isn't French, or at least not with a strong
accent.  By the way, does anyone else think of the Wombles (Madam Choufleur)
everytime they read Madam Pomfrey's name, or am I the only one??   Any
womble-related replies referring to me as a sad git, etc, shall be roundly
ignored.

Hannah aka IckleRonniekins
The Floor,
Hut On The Rock,
The Sea.

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Ode to Severus Snape:

Although many consider him sexy,
My opinion is that he is strange;
For instead of attending a Barber's
Snape just has an annual oil-change.

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