Ancestor or Descendant? / Wand Order Problem

[judyserenity]

No: HPFGUIDX 42738

 Phyllis said:
> The version of CoS that I just bought this 
> summer has Dumbledore telling Harry that Voldemort is the last 
> remaining *ancestor* of Salazar Slytherin. In an October 2000 
> Scholastic interview, JKR called this a *deliberate* error and said 
> that it should read *descendant.*  
> ...any ideas on why JKR called it a *deliberate* 
> error if it was subseqently fixed (or not, as in my edition)?
>
> Also, btw, thanks to all who responded to let me know what their
> versions of the text say in the various references to who came out
of
> the wand first....

Ah, the ancestor/descendant problem!  This has come up before; see
message 40425 for a previous thread about this topic.  Phyllis, if you
look at that thread, or search on "ancestor" you can probably find
some information on which editions were corrected and which were not.
 I have the US trade paperback version, and it says "ancestor." 

I was confused about JKR's statement that it was a "deliberate" error,
too.  However, the last time this came up, I got an email from one of
the British folks here (David, aka Davewitley), telling me that
"You've caught the deliberate error" is just a humorous British way of
admitting that one has made a mistake. (I guess that makes it a
*humourous* way of admitting a mistake.) David thought JKR was just
owning up to an error.  

The wand error made major news, even outside of Harry Potter Fandom,
when GoF first came out. It's not something I know much about, but
there is a lot of information about it in the Harry Potter lexicon. 
The section that discusses the wand order problem is at
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/timeline_potters.html

-- Judy Serenity