Riddle House, Indian names, gender studies, predictions

[Tabouli]

No: HPFGUIDX 29739

Susanna:
> In the book it says that the owner is 
unknown to the inhabitants of Little Hangleton and there's this 
rumour that he's keeping the house for "tax reasons". Now I was 
wondering whether the owner might not eventually be a wizard, maybe 
Malfoy?? He would certainly have the money to buy it.<

Yes, I've always wondered this myself.  Of course, there are possibilities besides Lucius.  Could be Voldemort himself, even, who is half-blood and understands the Muggle world better than Lucius.  He might have seen the benefits of buying his grandparents' old house (or even inherited it somehow, because after all, he is the last of the line, witch mother or no) and keeping the old gardener on to cover his tracks with the Muggles.  I don't think this is a red herring, though it's the sort of thing that might be cut if it's not central to the plot (interesting background only).

Madhuri:
> Padma is named after the consort of Lord Vishnu, the other dominant 
Hindu God. She is the Goddess of wealth and learning, and Padma Patil 
is therefore sorted into Ravenclaw.<

I know an Anglo-Australian man who changed his name to Padma, imagining it to be a "unisex" name.  Is this possible, or would he be a laughing stock in India?  I asked a couple of Hindi speakers and they insisted that Padma is a woman's name... I also remember that both a Padma and a Parvati were mentioned in "Midnight's Children" (which someone mentioned a while ago).

Most of the people of Indian ancestry I know are Malaysian Tamil speakers...

Joshua:
> You wondered if Hermione had girlfriends with whom she talked, and it 
seems like she does, although a bit out of sight to Harry.

True, true, she does seem to confide in Ginny about more girly things like who she's taking to the Ball.  Though my feeling is that Hermione is a principled and straightforward girl who makes a point of respecting people's privacy (i.e. not gossipping), keeping secrets, and Doing The Right Thing.  From what I've read, she'd be pretty inexperienced at the social engineering a lot of teenage girls engage in (and might well see it as underhand and beneath her), because she's spent most of her life on the intellectual plane, rather than the social one where I imagine Lavender and Parvati, and a lot of teenage girls, spend most of their time.

Megan:
> ----Gee, are you trying to make women sound bad, Tabouli <vbg>?  And
giving away all of our secrets!  (Gosh, all of this sounds awfully
familiar.)<

Hey, I didn't think I was making women sound bad!  I actually feared offending *men* with the implication that women's subtle and complex social tactics are above their heads!  Which I think they are for a lot of men/boys, especially at Ron and Harry's age (she says, donning her suit of armour), because the English-speaking world does not encourage men to operate on the social/emotional plane - they're taught to involve themselves in the world of things and abstract principles, while women are taught to involve themselves with people's feelings and relationships.  Which is not the fault of men *or* women, of course, but does make for a lot of conflict between the sexes.  And accounts for the fact that Engineering courses are dominated by men (a discipline fixed firmly in the physical world, operating by simple physical laws of motion, electricity, etc.) while Psychology courses are dominated by women (an inexact discipline fixed mostly in the social world, except for Neuropsychology, which, surprise surprise, has a lot more men in it).

As for giving away all women's secrets, this did occur to me (:D), but what the hell, I think a little more understanding would help the human race become a little happier.  You know, much as an overeducated someone with a Psychology degree like me would be assumed to sneer at the "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" approach to gender conflict, I actually think it's quite constructive.  By seeing the sexes as different sub-cultures (with the male sub-culture dominant) we can see gender conflict as the result of clashes in values, instead of men and women demonising each other.

Cassie:
> It's my personal opinion that many women (myself included) feel a inner need 
to have a dominate figure in their lifes, no matter how independent they may be.<

OK, I can see myself getting totally carried away if I start getting into these gender studies discussions any further (a favorite topic of mine, though one I've never specifically studied).  Off to OT with me for this comment and David's two points (to Mods: See? See?  I is a good Tabouli, I is)

David:
> I would be really disappointed if, on reading OOP, or book 7, I would 
> finish the book and think "Well, it's exactly as Cindy predicted in 
> message 43556, as qualified by Penny's message 3 in the old 
> archive."  Worse still would be finding my *own* predictions verified

Hmm, yes, I've mused on this myself.  I mean, think of the gloating factions that could pop up on this list if a theory of ours actually proved correct, such as those Snape-as-Vampire proponents (when the good ship LOLLIPOPS pulls in to harbour I shall conceal my smugness dutifully).

As for how serious we are about our theories, I'm reasonably serious about Snape/Lily.  It fits the known facts and personalities without wearing a path into well-trodden ground (unregistered animagi, secret half-human ancestry, Polyjuice), or attributing absolutely everything to the swings of Snape's conscience.  I may change my mind after OoP gives us more evidence, but so far it looks sound enough.  However, knowing JKR's ability to surprise, I can't help wondering if David could have something in thinking that our most outlandish theories are more likely to be correct.

Among my own outlandish-theories-which-might-unexpectedly-have-something-in-them, I vote for FLIRTIAC (Filch's Lover Is Regretting Transformation Into A Cat)!  There's definitely *something* funny about that Mrs Norris...

Tabouli


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