Characteristic Dialogue -- a case study

[MMMfanfic at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 28717

:applause:  This is a great summary Prof. Luke.

We have a discussion over at snape group about Snape's dialogue a 
couple of months ago.  Some of us think that Snape's dialogues and 
speech pattern noticeably changes if he doesn't know he's being 
watched.  He tends to revert to a more colloquial sentences and 
expressions and this may be a pointer to his possibly 'undesirable' 
background.

Since not everyone is a Snape fanatic, let me give you a couple of 
examples:

1. In SS/PS, when he was talking to Filch in the staffroom.  'Blasted 
thing,' Snape was saying.  'How are you supposed to keep your eyes on 
all three heads at once?'

2. In GoF, the chapter The Egg and the Eye when he was talking to 
Filch again about his office being broken in to and then interrupted 
by Moody.  I don't have GoF right now and can't give you the exact 
quote.  It was along the line of 'I don't give a damn about the 
wretched Peeves.'

There are numerous other examples but I'm sleepy.

Both sentences contain mild swear words; both aren't as formal and 
finely constructed as his normal speech.  We know that Snape is 
capable of eloquence when we were first introduced to him.  Is JKR 
trying to tell us something or are we reading too much into it?