Pronounciation/Supervising Students/More Stouffer/Wizarding Money (SPOILER)

[prince_galrion at yahoo.no]

No: HPFGUIDX 14550

Several topics here.

Beating a dead horse back to life (Whip!  Smack!  And don't you dare 
call the RSPCA!), I thought I'd mention my own theory on 
pronounciation of two names from the books.

(1)   Draco.  I believe Draco and his father pronounce it in proper 
Latin fashion (Drah-ko as opposed to Dray-ko), based on the fact that 
the Malfoys constitute an ancient family proud of its tradition, and 
probably of the sort that force-feeds Latin to their children at age 
3.  They seem the type of people that care about proper 
pronounciation of their own names.  Also, when Draco introduces 
himself on the Hogwarts Express in PS, Ron laughs at his name.  I 
find it hard to believe that Ron, who is brought up in a wizard-home, 
has not heard names just as strange as, or stranger than, Draco 
before (names such as Mundungus, Bathilda, etc.).  Rather, I think 
that he found Draco's way of saying the name (probably with a very 
bloated, self-important upper-class tone to it) funny.  To see Harry 
& Co. pronounce Draco in English fashion, to mock Draco, would seem 
perfectly in character to me.

(2)   Voldemort.  This name, on the other hand, I suspect always has 
been known to the general British wizarding-population with a spoken 
t.  Most will have seen the name only in writing, not daring to speak 
his name out loud, but if they would, they probably would pronounce 
the t.  This is a British society at all, with apparently the 
knowledge of French as widespread as it was in UK around 1940 - i.e. 
not much at all, so they would not know to mute the t.  Chances are 
that most would not recognise it as French at all.  Whether Voldemort 
himself knew French is also open to conjecture - knowing that he grew 
up in an orphanage, I doubt it, but we know also that he is 
intelligent, so he may have decided to learn French just as a 
challenge to himself.  If the name is spread solely through writing, 
however, it may not matter at all how he himself pronounces it.

***

As to why the Hogwarts Express takes so long time, if Platform 9 3/4 
could be located anywhere (including the Malvinas), without 
inconvenience to the users, nomatter whence they come - I think the 
trip is important in forming relations betweens tudents, without the 
pressure of teacher/prefect supervision.  We know (I think, at least) 
that there are normally not teachers on the train, and the prefects 
seem to sit in the forward-most compartments, without actually 
patrolling the trains (though the location seems to be known to most 
of the students, if they have a problem).

Similarly, I believe the students are without adult supervision in 
the common-rooms because the school believes it important for them to 
have an area (other than their bedroom) where they can assemble 
without adult supervision.  I seem to recall the fact that adults 
appearing in the common-room is a rare event, normally only happening 
I am also under the impression that on british boarding schools there 
is a tendency to leave more of the responsibility of supervision and 
minor crisis-management (exploding quills and the likes) with the 
prefects, who are chosen from the students taht seem to possess the 
necessary qualities for such duties.  As I deleted the email with the 
listof FAQs, I do not remember if there is an FAQ being written on 
British boarding-schools, but I certainly hope there is.

***

The following appeared Saturday 17.03.2001 in VG, Norway's largest 
newspaper (read by maybe as much as half of Norway's population).  VG 
is (most of the time, anyway) what can be called a serious tabloid 
(but then, every daily tabloid in Norway belongs to the "serious 
tabloid"-category).  The translation is mine.  I am not keen on 
letting this go completely without answer - the article is full of 
mistakes/errors, starting with the inability to spell JKR's name 
properly.  

If any of you want to work on writing an item to debunk the 
following, I'll be happy to translate it and forward it to the writer 
of the article.  I am already  somewhat bogged down in creative 
things I have to write, and have somewhat reduced computer-time on 
hand for the time being, so I'd rather not have to do it myself.

Alternatively, one might go for the Letters-section (where the 
maximum length is roughly the same as taht of the below manuscript), 
or for the Debate-page, where a whole page (Times New Roman, 10pt or 
equivalent, four columns) is allotted to a single item (but it's 
harder to get accepted).  In the debate-column the author is given a 
small biography - perhaps an opportunity for more HPforGrownups-
promotion?

FWIW, the item took up a whole column, save three inches at the 
bottom given up to an ad.

---------------------------------------------
LARRY IN PLAGIARISM LAWSUIT AGAINST HARRY

LONDON (VG)  Harry Potter may need all of his magical abilities if he 
wants to rid himself of his new rival Larry Potter.

For Larry Potter is os headed, at flank speed towards the 
bookshelves.  At the same time, the creator of Larry Potter has sued 
the creator of Harry Potter for plagiarism.

The female American writer Nancy Stouffer claims that ideas and 
characters in the Harry Potter-books have been stolen by JK Rowlings 
from the book "The Legend of Rah and the Muggles", published in USA 
in 1984.

And there are stunning similarities beyond just Larry and Harry.

JK Rowlings writes about Lily Potter, Harry's dead mum.  Stouffer 
also has a character in her book from 1984 called Lilly Potter - with 
double L.  In the English version of the Harry Potter-books, the 
story is about the "Keeper of the Keys".  In Stouffer's book the 
story is about the "Keeper of the Gardens".

JK Rowlings lets Harry Potter ride on a broom-stick called Nimbus.  
In Stouffer's 17 year old book Nimbus is a character that rides 
through the air on a horse.

REJECTED
Nancy Stouffer tried to have "The Legend of Rah and the Muggles" 
republished in 1998, but was rejected by the publishers - because 
they felt that the book could be confused with the books about Harry 
Potter.

The American writer believes that JK Rowlings came across her book 
when she studied in Baltimore in 1987-88.  Stouffer's book was a big 
success in USA when it was published, and created several spinoff-
products such as dolls and stickers.  Her publisher also promoted it 
at Oprah Winfery's popular talkshow.

The judicial fight between the two writers, still in progress in New 
York, will not be less ferocious when Stouffer now will attempt to 
have her book republished in Great Britain.

JK Rowlings categorically denies all allegations of plagiarism, and 
her publisher has now launched a counter-lawsuit.  Rowling's counter-
lawsuit is backed by powerful Time-Warner.  The movie-giant is not 
keen on having a new Potter-character on the market - just a few 
months before the premiere of the movie about Harry Potter.
---------------------------------------------

***
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All of you should really read the "With Thanks"-page (the page before 
the title-page)

I agree that the Galleon seems underrated.  It may of course be a 
result of the exchange-rate not properly reflecting the relations in 
actual buying-power between the currencies.  This is analogue to what 
I experienced on a 3-week tour through Europe with an American 
concert-band in 1994:  I noted that if I had brought traveler's 
cheques in US Dollars (USD) instead of Norwegian Kroner (NOK) 
(assuming equivalent amounts), I would have gotten up to 50% more of 
the local currency than I did.  I brought NOK equivalent of USD400, 
but they lasted only as long as 300 *actual* USD would have lasted.  
This is of course also *very* beneficial to muggle-born students, 
whose money will last a long way.  

I also note that there *is* inflation in the wizarding world, as 150 
Galleons in 1269 is the equivalent of more than one million Galleons 
today.  

***

Best regards
Christian Stubø
38% obsessed basset-hound who fondly remembers James Nehring's 
book "Why do we gotta do this stuff, Mr. Nehring?"
Captain-general of the mercenary SHIPping-fleet - available for hire 
now.  protect your own SHIPs against the shameless raids of your 
enemy, or search out and atttack your enemy's forces in a preemptive 
strike.  Crews guaranteed not afraid of spirit-crews such as found on 
Snape-Lily.  Prepaid jobs only.  Stubø Mercenary Ltd.  Proudly 
increasing the cost of SHIPping-wars.  ;-)

P.S.   Regarding my offer to lease out a number of ships for your 
SHIPing-wars, I forgot to include a price-quote.  Prices are as 
follows:

For ships, you pay five sickles, three knuts (148 knuts), per ton 
deep load per knot designed top speed per day.  For the battlecruiser 
Lion, the daily rate becomes:

29 700 tons * 28 knots * 148 knuts/(day*knot*ton) = 123 076 800 knuts 
= 249648 Galleons, 11 sickles, 17 knuts per day.

The price includes any onboard aircraft, fuel, crew and supplies, but 
not ammunition.  For ammunition, take the calibre in millimetres 
(rounded up (*not* down) to the nearest whole millimetre), divide by 
two, multiply by the length of the barrel in calibres, and multiply 
by five knuts, to find the price per shot fired.  Round the price up 
(*not* down) to the nearest knut.  The price includes both charge and 
shell.  Example:

The HMS Lion has 13.5in = 343 mm main artillery, with 45 calibre long 
barrels.

Price per shot = (343mm / 2) * 45calibres * 5 knuts/
(calibre*barrellength*shot) = 38588 knuts = 78 Galleons, 4 sickles, 
18 knuts per shot.  Price is the same for AP, APC, semi-APC and HE-
shells.

She also has 4in = 102 mm secondary artillery, with 50 calibre long 
barrels.

Price per shot = (102mm / 2) * 50calibres * 5 knuts/
(calibre*barrellength*shot) = 38588 knuts = 25 Galleons, 14 sickles, 
19 knuts per shot.  Price is the same for AP, APC, semi-APC and HE-
shells.

Torpedoes has flat price of 200 Galleons per piece.

For purposes of calculations, 12pdr guns will be assumed to be of 
3in/50cal model, 6pdr guns will be assumed to be of 57mm/50cal model, 
3pdr guns will be assumed to be of 47mm/50cal model and 2pdr guns 
will be assumed to be of 40mm/50cal model.