[HPforGrownups] Re: The "mudblood" thing

[yr awen]

No: HPFGUIDX 41834

Ummm, note: This post makes academic reference to the 'f' word.

zeff8 said:

>>>>>>That, Aesha, is because most people are ignorant of the fact
that there does
> exist a country called Niger, which when pronounced sounds just like
the "n"
> word. So you see, there is infact, a proper usage of the word
"nigger".<<<<<<<<<

Huh. And here I always thought that 'Niger' was pronounced with a long
'i' and soft 'g', as in 'NI-jer', as one might find looking on
National Public Radio's styleguide
(http://www.npr.org/inside/styleguide/pugho.htm#-N-). As they make
their living talking to people, one would assume they know what
they're about. I've heard 'Niger' pronounced this way my entire life.
Additionally, I believe the Nigerian French dialectical pronunciation
of it differs; the soft 'g' mutates to a 'zh', or something to that
effect.

>   One must therefore assume, or believe that there is also a proper
usage
> for the term "mudblood", when used in context in the wizard world.
And that
> it is just not another foul word.

I honestly don't think that's the case. 'Mudblood' even *sounds* like
it was concocted for a purely derogatory purpose, with its catchy
assonance that's so easy to remember and comes trippingly off the
tongue. Unlike 'nigger', it can't possibly be a bastardized version of
another word (cf. Latin 'negro'.) The impression I get is that
substituting 'Mudblood' for 'Muggle-born' is like using 'fuck' in the
place of 'coitus', or something like that; both terms imply the most
degrading extreme of the condition or act which they are meant to
describe. 'Fuck' connotes violence, impersonality, and almost brutal
physicality; likewise, 'Mudblood' connotes corruption, impurity, and
inferiority.

HF.