Knight Bus (was POA Chapters 3 and 4)

[joym999 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 18545

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Morag Traynor" <moragt at h...> wrote:
> 
> Amy Z wrote:
> 
> > > Does the Knight Bus only run at night?  That idea
> > > got planted in my
> > > head when I thought it was Night Bus and has never
> > > gotten uprooted.
> > >
> > > Amy Z
> 
> "Knight Bus" is a play on "Night Bus" - Night Buses run through the 
night in 
> London and, after the Tube and trains stop running (around 
midnight) are the 
> only public transport available.  They are a very welcome sight 
when they 
> (eventually) turn up to take you home, and are the traditional red 
> double-deckers, so it can feel as if a knight in shining armour has 
come to 
> rescue you :).  The roads being clearer at that time of night, once 
you are 
> out of the centre, the bus bounces along at a considerable pace, 
for a bus, 
> tree-branches rattle along the roof and you're sure the driver's 
never going 
> to make that corner (but he always does) so the whole experience is 
not 
> unlike the Knight Bus - apart from the comfortable beds, panelling 
and 
> chandeliers, of course!  I also loved the name Ernie Prang - 
"prang" is old 
> RAF (based on Malay, I think) slang for "crash", extended to road 
traffic, 
> and is associated with a rather insouciant attitude to crashes, as 
in 
> "pranged the Jag last week - what a bore!".  The Knight Bus is 
another 
> example of JKR finding the magic in the everyday, or, in this case, 
every 
> night :)
> 

I want to thank Morag ENTHUSIASTICALLY for that extremely interesting 
and informative post.  It has made me wonder:  Are there other 
"Britishisms" in the books that we furriners are missing?  Aside 
from, of course, the words like "jumper" that mean something 
different.  I know that anyone who is not British wouldnt get the 
fact that "Spellotape" is a joke on "Sellotape," which we Americans 
call "Scotch Tape" -- I only know this because it was explained to 
me.  What other "in-jokes" have we missed?  

-- Joywitch