Cabbage-smelling Brits, Arabella and vulgar expressions

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 42892

In a message dated 19/08/2002 00:20:30 GMT Standard Time, bboy_mn at yahoo.com 
writes:


> Have you ever been in an old person home that didn't smell,
> especially, if they were not psycho cleaning fanatics like Aunt Petunia?


As it happens, yes.

> 
> They all smell funny, and smell even worse if the person happens to
> fancy cats.
> 
> Mrs. Figg is an old English person, her house smells like cooked cabbage.
> 
> Mr. Perkins, who Mr. Weasley borrowed the tent from, is an old English
> person and his tent smells like cabbage.
> 
> I think the key here is 'old English person', not polyjuice or some
> other grand conspiracy theory.


I rigorousy deny that when I get old (or even older!) that my house will 
inevitably smell of cabbage because of my nationality!

My mother's house didn't smell of cabbage (dog, yes, but then it had for 
years, that was a function of the dog and the fact that people who live with 
animals stop noticing their odour, not of her age).
My in-laws house doesn't smell bad. It smells different from ours (and the 
kids always say they like the smell of Grandma's house) because she uses 
different cleaning products, cosmetics, etc. 
Nor does my aged aunt's.

Or is your point that cabbage is particularly English? Do you think an old 
Welsh person's house smell of leeks or an old Scottish person's of neeps?
What do elderly Americans' houses smell of?

I agree that there is a problem of why the trio's potion wasn't smelled out. 
But then, there is also the problem about why the smoke it produced wasn't 
noticed either (and the same problems go for Crouch Jr's potion, too).


>I think Mrs. Figg is going to be the obvious, an old witch who lived
>near Harry to keep an eye on him. Either that, or Rowling is just
>jerking us around. Common magicians trick, misdirection; making us
>look in one place when the real action is in another. Rowling doesn't
>leave much to chance or miss any details, but she does have an unusual
>sense of humor, maybe the Mrs. (cabbage) Figg and the Arabella Figg
>are just fodder for the Yahoo Groups mill until the next book comes
>out. Nothing but Rowling's way of having us on.

Now come on, *I'm* the person in the group who says boring things like that! 
;-)
(But we *do* know that they are the same person. I see Catlady's now posted 
the evidence for this.)
.................
On Arabella (this has got OT, so I'll acknowledge it here rather than give it 
a post of its own),

Catlady (take 10 points for deriving my name):

>Eloise<< However, the site also says that Annabel is *Hebrew*. >>

>Maybe that site understands "Annabelle" as I did before I read your 
>information: as a fancied-up form of "Anna", which does come from the 
>Hebrew name Hannah, which IIRC means 'grace'. A portmanteau of 
>Hebrew-derived "Anna" and Latin-derived "Bella".

Eloise:
Which would be quite logical, only they give "Anna" as Hebrew for "grace", 
"Annabel" as Hebrew for "eagle heroine" and "Arabella" as Teutonic for "Eagle 
heroine".
.................
Oh, and on Catlady's Britspeak problem, trying to think of a suitably vulgar 
expression for Malfoy to use to get across Voldemorts instructions to the DEs 
to go home and procreate, there is an English word with which we are all 
familiar which will do very well (and I think, in Catlady's scenario, is the 
inevitable choice), but which is inapproriate for use on this list.
As Woody Allen put it (someone having supposedly dented his fender, or 
'bumper', in Britspeak),
"I told him, 'Be fruitful and multiply,' but not in those words."

Eloise






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