The Creation of the Term "Put Outer"

[heiditandy]

No: HPFGUIDX 36971

> Cindy writes:
> >And why does JKR, a 
> master 
> > of inventing clever names like veritaserum and pensieve, resort 
to 
> a 
> > clunky name like Put-Outer?
> >

It is a clunky name - sort of the thing that when people name things 
in that manner in fanfiction, I generally am less interested in the 
story because it's not JKR-ian in its creativity with creating and 
naming magics.

But there may be an explanation! Perhaps they are called that 
because it came from the colonies back in the 1500's, when potatoes 
were first introduced in europe and the original models looked the 
same as a tuber.

Okay, probably not - but it is a familiar-sounding and -looking 
word, and maybe that's why JKR chose it -= when reading it aloud it 
sounds somewhat like Potato - and when reading it to one's self from 
the page, it's not as odd as seeing a Latinesque term in the 
begining of the book. I do think it has something to do with not 
wanting to introduce wands, but also as much to do with not wanting 
to introduce the language of spells and charms just yet - let's keep 
a little mystery about what is going on here. Obviously, if you'd 
read hte back of the book or any of the PR about it, you'd know 
Harry was a wizard, that there's a school called Hogwarts, etc. But 
if you didn't know that, then there's a clear indication that Magic 
Is Happening, but precisely the form or format - you still don't 
know.


Heidi
(who, if she came up with acronyms (and as Tabouli is away is 
willing to give this a try) would call this Questions Undermine Any 
Yokel's Linguistic Explanation (QUAYLE))


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