It Smells like Cabbage! ....YIKES!

[bboy_mn]

No: HPFGUIDX 42948

Yikes! Yikes! and double Yikes! I didn't think my 'old people smell'
comment was going to generate such a controversy. Sorry.

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "bboy_mn" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> Sorry but I think you are making too big a deal about this smell 
> of cabage thing. (sub-topic of the search for the meaning of 
> Arabella and other Mrs. Figg related discussion)
> 
> Have you ever been in an old person home that didn't smell,
> especially, if they were not psycho cleaning fanatics like 
> Aunt Petunia?
> 
> 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.
> 
> .... EDITED ....
> Hey, it could happen.
> 
> bboy_mn

Several people responded to this post in independant posts where
several topics were grouped together, and apparently took my statement
to say that all old English people smell like cabbage. That's not
quite what I said, although upon rereading it, it looks more like that
than I intended.

My point was that there were some pretty wild speculations running
around about who and what Mrs. Figg was, and while they were fun to
discuss and read, I thought they were supported by very little
evidence. Still fun though.

My point was that there is more evidence indicating that Mrs. Figg is
just an old lady who's house smells. Lots of old peoples houses smell.
True it's a generalization, and generalizations like stereotypes while
based in reality, are not universally true. Every generalization or
stereotype, no matter how true, falls apart when you start applying it
to individuals.

My point was not that ALL old English people smell like cabage. It was
that all (within reasonable boundaries) old peoples homes smell. 

Let's look at the evidence-
Evidence for Mrs. Figg being involved in some grand polyjuice
conspiracy = ??????? wild, but fun, speculation

Evidence that Mrs. Figg is just an old English lady, who, it has
become  known, is also a witch, an OLD witch.

Figg= old, English, similar older style of home furnishings, house
smells like cabbage and cats.

Perkins= old, English, similar older style of home furnishings,
house/tent smells like cabbage and cats.

Very old people have different tastes in food, so it is more likely
that someone in their 70's would eat cooked cabbage than someone in
their 20's. Also, note that people with common ethnic or national
heritage, are more likely to eat similar foods. In my grandmother's
house, you were more likely to find lutefisk than gefilte fish.

Also, young people don't smell that much. Prepubesent kids hardly
smell at all. They can go for days without a shower and while dirty,
they really don't smell. The fact is, that the older you get the more
you smell, and the more you develope a very unique smell. This is
problably also related to why a kid is more likely to notice that an
old person's house smells than an adult.

In summary, sometimes the most obvious explaination is the right one.

bboy_mn