Made-up exclamations / Ron and Weasley Wealth / Dumblesox / JKR quotes

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 29100

Luke caliburncy wrote:

> Perhaps I am the only one, but seeing made-up exclamatory 
> expressions such as "Great wizards!" or "Merlin's beard!" in some
> of the very little Harry Potter fanfiction I have read, makes 
> me want to cringe.

In Book 1, Hagrid says: "Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still 
scared [to say "Voldemort"]" and "Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me 
[to buy Harry an owl]". In Book 4, "Moody" says "Merlin's beard ... 
... this is some map!" It makes sense that people whose highest value 
is magic rather than religion or sex would cuss by magic rather than 
by religion or sex, but I as fanfic writer WISH she had put in some 
examples of them saying "Bloody hell!" or "I'll be damned!" because 
using the made-up exclamations doesn't work so well as expressions of 
the characters' feelings.

Also, in reference to distinguishing characters by giving each one a 
particular phrase, the MOST ANNOYING thing about Agatha Christie 
mysteries is her pathetic attempts at characterization. You know it's 
Hercule Poirot because he has a fake French accent and speaks of 
'little gray cells'. You know it's Ariadne Oliver because she is 
eating an apple and her hair is shedding its bobby pins and falling 
down. I often thought it would be better to simply SKIP such awful 
characterization and just get on with the puzzle. 

Mecki wrote:
> As much as I like Molly, I think [maroon sweaters] shows she does
> not love Ron as much as the others. Choosing this colour has 
> nothing to do with being poor. The other Weasleys get their 
> hand-knitted jumpers in bright colours, only Ron's is always as 
> gloomy as he feels within his family.

Maroon is a bright, non-gloomy color that I like very much. And for 
all we know, Bill's jumper is navy blue and Charlie's is brown and 
Ginny's is a pale pastel pink that clashes with her hair almost as 
much as maroon does with Ron's.

However, Ron has other complaints. "Ron had taken out a lumpy package 
and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of 
them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."
"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on 
--" "You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got 
much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us.""

That, in combination with a couple of other things that I don't 
remember now, really shocked me about Molly. If she made corned beef 
sannies for everyone and only Ron disliked corned beef, that could be 
attributed to being five of them, but a full-time stay-at-home mom 
with years of practise making assembly-line sannies and can't be 
bothered to butter the bread or put mayonnaise on them (or put an 
anti-staleness charm on the bread), what is wrong with her? And Ron 
realised how it sounds and leapt to her defense!

Megan wrote:

> Perhaps Arthur's salary is less than we think?  Somehow this 
> doesn't seem right.  After all, the Ministry seems to be a very 
> important place to work, and he IS the Head of his office.  

Maybe MoM salaries are designed for civil servants who live on 
inherited wealth, income from writing books, or corruption. In his 
author's preface to FANTASTIC BEASTS, Scamander mentioned his meager 
wage as an entry level civil servant. I forget whether it was 2 
Sickles a year or 2 Sickles a week, but even the latter is quite 
impossible to live on! Taking such a job WITHOUT a second income (no 
inherited wealth, no corruption) would be another sign of Arthur's 
idealism, but not explain why Molly is so eager for her sons to take 
MoM jobs.

> Broomsticks (are these bought by the school--Harry's was, what
> about everyone else's?) are expensive

I don't think Harry's bought by the school; I think either it was 
bought with his own money from his Gringotts vault or McGonagall 
bought it for him with her personal savings because she was that 
eager for Gryffindor to win the Quidditch Cup. I think it's unfair 
for players to have to supply their own broomsticks -- ones too poor 
to buy a good broomstick (e.g. Ron) can't even HOPE to get on the 
team (and Ron having that old junkheap while Fred and George have 
Comet 260s, same as Draco has until he needs to buy his victory, and 
same as Cho made do with when she came off the injury list, is 
ANOTHER piece of Ron-abuse).

However, someone suggested that Hogwarts always buys one good racing 
broomstick for each kid who gets on hiser House team, the best model 
widely available at that time, so it was not a special privilege for 
Harry. That would explain how Fred and George got Comet 260s! And 
Harry's crisis about replacing the smashed Nimbus 2000 and Slytherin 
House's delight at getting a gift of Nimbus 2001s all around would 
still make sense if the school provides ONE broomstick for each 
player, not replacements.

I think the post on Weasley finances also wondered whether Hogwarts 
charges tuition. I am sure JKR said in a chat that Hogwarts DOES NOT 
charge tuition but I can't find the reference. (A school with a big 
enough endowment wouldn't need to chargeg tuition. In the case of 
Hogwarts, I suspect that the endowment consists of magic. Spells that 
were placed by the Founders and some previous Headmasters and every 
Headmaster must be a powerful skilled enough wizard to maintain.)     

Libby lamppost wrote:

> 7. Assuming Dumbledore WAS being truthful about seeing himself with 
> socks in the Mirror of Erised, (a big assumption, but this can 
> count as my fun question!) why does Dumbledore desire them so?

Personally, I like to believe that they are not just ANY socks, but 
the hideous ones his late mother or late wife hand-knitted for him 
EVERY Christmas no matter how often he told her that he hated them. 
So while he is truthful about seeing himself with socks, it really 
depicts his desire to not have been bereaved of his mother or wife.  

Suki wrote:

> First, I lately heard a rumor that JKR (repeatedly) said some
> muggle would discover they could do magic late in life and that
> most speculation pointed to Petunia. Can anyone point to where/when
> JKR said this? 

She said it in an ancient Barnes & Noble chat: 
http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=69WCM
D0H17&mscssid=KKQ9L62NN8XL8GNMADPUPH764K059XXC&isbn=059035342X&display
only=authorInterview
which I found by using Mike the Goat's search engine:
http://www.geocities.com/aberforths_goat/
altho' it mostly annoying didn't find either of the other two things I 
looked for tonight: "tuition" (see above) and "Animagus" 
(see below).

Jennifer wrote:

> a gigantic battle between Harry and Voldemort, with each as 
> an animagus - Voldemort as the Slytherin snake and Harry as the 
> Gryffindor lion.

I am sure that JKR said in a chat interview that Harry WILL NOT 
become an Animagus. G'rrr --- it would be fun if all the Trio did. Do 
you really think that someone with Harry's dislike of being the 
center of attention would become a Lion?