Touching Quirrell's Hand / Dumbledore-GoF / Translation (names)

[Liz Muir]

No: HPFGUIDX 40939

*****Touching Quirrell's Hand*****

Cindy wrote:
>>I just re-read Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone for the hundreth
time(ok maybe not that many times but it't been a lot), and it struck
me odd that in the beginning of the book, Professor Quirrell shakes
Harry's hand, yet this has no effect at all on him. Shouldn't Harry's
touch have blistered his hand the way that it did at the end of the
book? Or did it not blister him because he wasn't feeling so full of
hate and rage at that time? Yet, I would think that Quirrell would have
some hate and anger towards Harry since he is Voldemort's loyal subject
and Voldemort just happens to be a parasite on the back of his head.
Maybe at the time, Voldemort was not yet living on Quirrell. Why, then
would he have been wearing it when they first met at The Leaky
Cauldron, then? Even so, why does Quirrell seem nervous when they first
meet? The way Quirrell says "Who would suspect p-p-poor st-stuttering
P-Professor Quirrell?", it implies to me that it was all an act. Any
thoughts on this?<<

Seems very mysterious, doesn't it, but it's all explained in the book.
Very common mistake to make. :) If you'll read the final confrontation
scene again, you'll notice that Quirrell had not yet been possessed by
Voldemort. when he went to the Leaky Cauldron. Here's the quote: "When
I failed to steal the stone from Gringotts, he was most displeased.  He
punished me . . . decided he would have to keep a closer watch on me. .
. ." (SS hardback  291) I think we can safely drawn from this quote
that "keeping a closer watch" means sharing his body. Quirrell failed
to steal the stone after he met Hagrid and Harry, so he had not yet
been possessed.

*****Dumbledore/GOF*****
Alyssa wrote:
>>I've been wondering why Dumbledore didn't know that something strange
was going on - seeing how he saw Harry's name and a different school on
the piece of paper (when Fred put his name on the paper, he put both
his name and Hogwarts) or did the GOF just spit out the name and not
the school?<<

Oh he knew something was up, of couse! It's sort of obvious that Harry
shouldn't have been able to get his name in the hat. However, he has no
reason to suspect Crouch!Moody, and it just seems like a general
mystery to watch out for.

*****Translation*****

BBoy MN wrote:
>>Off on a total tangent, why did they translate ANY of the names.
People's names are never translated. Just because I moved to a new
country, I wouldn't have to change my name to the local translation of
that name. It's just plain stupid.<<

Well, sometimes names do have to be changed. I'm not saying Harry
Potter is a case in point, but a friend of mine just immigrated to the
US from the Ukraine. She has slightly Anglized (sp?) her name so that
we can even pronounce it. lol Ellis Island is a good example of name
changing. Of course, that's not very related to HP.

I also like the point made by Pam S about translating names for their
connotation:
>>It depends what you mean by 'translate'. Most British English readers
would probably not know that old English 'dumbledore' implied 'bumble
bee' until someone told them or they read it somewhere. I would
therefore understand a Spanish translation using an Old Spanish word
for a bumble bee for Dumbledore's name. <<

I think this is especially important in JKR's novels where all names
are significant. Except, oddly (or not so oddly) the main character.
lol (Ever read that list of "Shortest Books Inspired by HP"? It's riot!
"My Life Before Hogwarts" by Hermione Granger!)

As to the proposition of making a academic version with footnotes and
such, why don't the people on this list write it? We certainly are
obsessed enough, and I'm sure there are at least a few English majors
on the list. We could write our own footnoted editions and save them
until WB realizes the need. Then they will come begging to us! Ha! WB
asking the fans to do something?! lol



=====
Rowen Avalon (Liz Muir)

"We will not examine how grainy the frosting is. It's a cake. That's all we need to know."
"Everyone keeps learn more and more about less and less until finally they know everything about nothing. It's called specializing."
"The guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth then to the very center."
"I have nothing but contempt for a man who can spell a word only one way."

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