meaning of "of age"

[alhewison]

No: HPFGUIDX 43253


> Banjoken wrote:
  I think the "of age" that Dumbledore was talking about was specific 
 to the tournament. 17 was the age limit the MoM set for students  who
wanted to enter the tournament. It doesn't necessarily correspond  to 
 anything else in the wizarding world. 
 
Amy agreed:-

 Well put, Ken, and I thought about that possibility but didn't have 
 the mental wherewithal to explain why I thought it wasn't the case.  
 I probably still don't, but it just doesn't read quite right to me.  
 I think that when he refers to "of age" he is indeed referring to 
 something outside of the Tournament rules, and I'll take a whack at 
 explaining why.
 
 If the only meaning of "of age" is "this is the age at which I have 
 determined you may do activity X," then it doesn't spring to the 
 tongue as a useful expression for explaining who may and may not do 
 activity X.  Imagine a family in which the girls are allowed to 
 pierce their ears at age 15.  That is the only significance of the 
 age 15 in this family and their society.  So would you ever hear 
 these conversations?:
 
 13-year-old daughter to mom:  "Why can't I get my ears pierced NOW?"
 Mom to daughter:  "Because you're not of age."
 
 or
 
 Kids to dad:  "Who can get their ears pierced?"
 Dad to kids:  "The ones who are of age, 15 years old."
 
 Possible, but not a likely way to say it.  Mom would say "because in 
this family the rule is you may get your ears pierced when you're 
15."  Dad would say "the ones who are 15."  Only if 15 meant "of age" 
 in some other context familiar to all of them would this phrase be 
 likely to be used.
 
I say:- 

Whilst canon may yet prove me wrong, I must respectively disagree 
with you. In the UK the phrase "coming of age", or "of age" has a 
quite specific meaning which is legally defined as at 18 years old
(formerly 21). According to my trusty dictionary this means to reach 
adult status. Whilst I accept that the WW might use different phrases 
to mean different things, I can't think of any other phrases off the 
top of my head (though please feel free to show me!) I think that the 
average Brit (be they wizard or muggle) would phrase a sentence 
differently if it meant that they hadn't reached the relevant age 
(but not the age of majority). For example, if you were 16 and 
moaning that you couldn't take your driving test yet:

You wouldn't be told you're not of age, but you're not old enough.

Molly uses the same phrase "You're not of age" when replying to the 
twins complaints about not being able to apparate (p 63 GoF UK 
edition). Of course, this doesn't really help in establishing the 
meaning of "of age", as your argument (or mine) would be equally 
valid. But it is a further use of the phrase outside the tournament 
context. 

Ali