How Twenty is Twenty?

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 46554

Recently when I was complaining that the frequently use of the number
20 should not be taken literally, I suggested that there were examples
in the book where the number 20 was used in which it cleary was
inaccurate and did not reflect the number of people who were there.
Someone challanged me to present those.

Before I present those, let me make my position clear. I speculate
that JKR frequently uses the number 20 as a literary device. Sort of a
'not too big/not too small' easy to visualized number. A number which
is intended to help the reader visualize a scene, and not intended to
represent an exact count. I further theorized that the number 20 would
be used when ever she needed a 'not too big/not to small' number for
this same visually descriptive purpose. If Harry goes to get new
glasses, he'll have 20 styles to choose from. If he goes to a
restaurant, there will be 20 items on the menu. If a group of kids are
milling around, there will be about 20 of them. Etc...

We have 20 brooms at flying leasons for a double class (two houses).
We have 20 cauldrons in the potions classroom even though everyone has
their own cauldron, and it too, is a double class.
We have 20 ear muffs in Herbology for a double class.

Did I miss any???

So here are a couple examples-

In Trelawney's classroom there are 20 tables, plus many 'chintz'
chairs and poufs. 

PA - US hardcove Pg 101
"In fact, it didn't look like a classroom at all, more like a cross
between someone's attic and an old-fashioned tea shop.  At least
*twenty* small circular tables were crammed inside it, all surrounded
by chintz armchairs and fat little poufs."

poufs = round ottoman, foot stool, footrest, hassock
chintz = a type of fabric

So we have 20 tables which can easily seat 2 and probable three, and
possibly more. In a comedy club a table for 6 is about the size of a
pizza. So that gives us table seating for 40 to 60, plus the
additional armchairs and poufs. Assuming that some but not all of the
armchairs and poufs are around the tables (which is my read) We have
seating for 50 to 70 and possibly more. Yet even with a large double
class, you wouldn't need seating for more than 40. A typical double
class is only 20.

Seems like a lot of seating for only 20 students, or in this case, 10
students. (I don't get the sense that this is a double class, please
correct me if I'm wrong.)

Next, Quiditch World Cup - Top Box

GoF - US Hardcover pg-96
"Mr. Weasley's party kept climbing, and at last they reasched the top
of the staircase and found themselves in a *small* box, set at the
highest point of the stadium and situated exactly halfway between the
goal posts. About *twenty* purple-and-gilt chairs stood in two rows
here, and Harry, filing into the front deats with the Weasleys, looked
down upon a scene the likes of which he could never have imagined."

GofF -US Hardcover - Pg 99
"The box filled gradually around them over the next half hour. Mr.
Weasley kept shaking hands with people who were obviously very
important wizards. Percy jumped to his feet so often that he looked as
thought he were trying to sit on a hedgehog."

About 20 purple-and-gilt chairs. 10 in the Weasley party, + 2 UK
Minister of Magic & Sports + 2 Bulgaria Minister of Magic and Sports +
3 Malfoys + 2 seats saved by Winky = 19 seats taken out of 20.

So where did all these other 'important wizards' who gradually filled
the box for half an hour sit???

It doesn't say that the boxES gradually filled around them, which
would  imply other boxes next to and in front of theirs. It says 'THE
BOX filled..." which implies their box, the box at the very top which
no one would have any reason to be in except the people who were
seated there, filled over a period of half an hour.

My point again is not to argue the logistics of these situations but
to point out that the number 20 is not necessarily an exact
representation of the size of anything or the number of people
involved. It's simple a  'not too big/not too small' very easy to
visualize number that JKR frequently falls back on.


That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

bboy_mn