British Places - the Burrow - Pomfrey - Hogsmead

[Rita Winston]

No: HPFGUIDX 22768

Al wrote:

> 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.  

While you're explaining things that Americans don't understand, WHAT is
it about Dean that makes you think he's suburban? 

Susan Hall wrote:

> I'd always assumed that the Weasleys fell into that
> well known socio-economic group "English Upper Class 
> Eccentrics - No Money" (snip) If Ottery St Catchpole
> is on the Devon/Dorset border it is in a typical
> EUCENOM hideout

I LOVED your description, it is LOL funny, but I somehow got the idea
that the Burrow had been in the family for generations. With such large
family and a home named the Burrow, why isn't the family name Bunny
rather than Weasley?   

Sofie wrote:

> why don't the Weasley children pass books on to
> each other? I mean if all of them went to Hogwarts
> surely they all could have used the same books. 

My first thought is that some of the school books are kept for the witch
or wizard's entire life as frequently consulted reference books of
magic. My next thought was that the books are worn out and destroyed by
the time the twins are done with them, so Ron gets second hand books
that he destroys before they could reach down to Ginny. We know that Ron
is sharing Harry's copy of FB because his own came apart.

Al wrote:

> And Madam Pomfrey has to be French, surely?

WHY??? It never occurred to me that she might be French! The honorific
"Madam" isn't French for Madam Rosmerta, and "Pomfrey" doesn't LOOK like
a French name. It isn't spelled Pomfrix!

Hannah Ronniekins wrote:

>  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?? 

I think I've never heard of the Wombles. I think of the medicinal herb
comfrey when I see the name Pomfrey. Someone in this egroup suggested
that it is a combination of 'comfrey' and 'pomade'. "Pomade" doesn't
sound at all right to me, as to be it is totally cosmetic, but I can see
"pomme" for the apple a day that keeps the doctor away. I also NEVER
thought of "pommes frites" until that person complained of the Italian
translator calling her Signora Chips.

Catherine wrote:

> The school gates are flanked by winged pigs, the 
> symbolism of which currently eludes me,

There's a house in Burbank CA, IIRC on Edison Avenue, which has two
concrete piggies on hind legs, one topping each of the concrete pillars
on either side of their driveway.

> but because of this I was assuming that the name
> Hogwarts preceded the name Hogsmeade.  Mead = an
> alcoholic drink made from fermented honey.  

I have a complicated theory which is not canon. In my opinion, the
mountain was first, and its name is Hogmount (sometimes called Mt. Hog).
One presumes that if there were local historian, they would say that the
name meant Holy Mountain because pre-Druid priests had magic ceremony on
top of it, but that REALLY was named after the Caledonian boar (whom *I*
have never believed to Calydonian). Nearby topographic features were
named after the mountain: the Forbidden Forest is Hogwood, the Lake is
Hoglake (do I recall it being named Hogmere?), the low wet grassy area
beside the lake was name Hogmeadow, and the dryer, stonier land on the
feet of the mountain was named Hogwald -- I looked up 'wald' in on-line
dictionaries, to check, and found that the definition is 'a hilly or
flat area which is wooded or not wooded' -- I imagine that it means a
place which USED to be wooded).

I imagine that Salazar started whining about what to name their school
while they were still digging dungeons and laying foundation stones, and
Godric said "We'll name it Hogwald school, because that's where it is."
But Salazar whined and sulked that the proposed name contained Godric
and Helga's initials, but not his. He said "Call it Sogwald", but Tavish
(the OC with the local lore) said that might anger the Hog, so Rowena
said "Let's put all our initials in it, let's change it from Hogwald to
Hogwarts, H G R T S, Helga, Godric, Rowena, Tavish, Salazar."

However, I imagine that the Castle is between Hoglake and Hogmount, and
Hogsmead is between the Castle and Hogmount, so the place where the
Castle was built was really Hogmeade not Hogwald, so somehow the names
got switched.

Tabouli wrote:

> Will the boys be reaching for the razors, only to
> have them turn into cream puffs c/o Gred and Forge?

Do wizards shave with razors, Depilatory Charms, or do they use some
kind of anti-beard Potion (to drink or to rub on)?

> One more thing: what happens with the online chat?

If you go to the Web site of the main HPfGU egroup, 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/22738 for example,
there is a menu on the left hand side and CHAT is the fourth from the
top of that menu. Click on it to enter the chat room with a pathetic
little Yahoo chat window. If you use Cheetah Chat, the room is
grp*g.2176166:1
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