[HPforGrownups] Why brooms and not carpets?

[heiditandy]

No: HPFGUIDX 45761



> -----Original Message-----
> From: psychodudeneo [mailto:psychomaverick at hotmail.com] 
> Sent: Friday, October 25, 2002 4:05 AM
> To: HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [HPforGrownups] Why brooms and not carpets?
> 
> 
> Real-To:  "psychodudeneo" <psychomaverick at hotmail.com>
> 
> The reason given for flying carpets being illegal is that they're 
> considered muggle items.
> 
> Hello?  Brooms are muggle items too!  Heck, you're more likely to 
> find a broom in someone's house than a persian-style carpet.
> 
> I can't think of any reason why the Ministry would choose one over 
> the other.  To be honest, carpets sound a lot more useful than brooms.

>From Quidditch Through the Ages, we learn that the prominence of
broom-flying in the British Isles dates back many hundreds of years, to
a time when ordinary people were very likely to have a broom in their
home, even in the main room - However, from a study of history, we can
conclude that ordinary people - Muggles - were probably less likely to
have a large carpet, as carpets were expensive and found, usually, only
in the homes of the wealthier folk. Thus, if someone who didn't have a
manor house or larger had a carpet, it might have roused suspicion, of
the "how do they afford *that*? Their turnip crop was horrid this year!"
variety. 

Accordingly, as QTTA says, it was easier to explain away a random broom
on a rack or by the front door when guests came calling, or in a
different place in the room each time, than it would've been to expain
anything else. They were Muggle-ordinary.

Heidi