Hare lip (WAS: Re: [HPforGrownups] Re: Newer UK Edition of CoS Has Three Changes From Origin...)

[Rebecca Stephens]

No: HPFGUIDX 43840


--- eloiseherisson at aol.com wrote:
> I think perhaps it was changed out of sensitivity.
> These *aren't* synonyms:  
> hare lip is a synonym for cleft lip, a common birth
> defect and, according to 
> my dictionary, is often used derisively. To be
> honest, I wasn't very 
> comfortable with the original. I know that
> technically it was Lockhart's 
> prejudice that was showing, but it may not have been
> very agreeable to  
> readers who born with this defect, particularly
> children. It highlights 
> negatively a condition which today is frequently
> very successfully treated by 
> surgery. Children are, I think, less likely to
> suffer from hairy chins! I 
> think JKR's original was a misjudgement and I'm glad
> it's been changed.
> 
> Eloise.


Personally, I'm more comfortable with the original. 
It just makes more sense.  And, as many have noted, HP
isn't about perfect people or perfect situations.  If
prejudice can exist for race, species, and squibhood
(which I would equate with mental retardation or
blindness in seriousness rather than associating it
with general loserhood) why not physical deformities? 
It smacks of trying to clean up a world, or at least
clean up a character.  I thought the original really
illustrated Lockhart's despicaleness, and I liked it
that way.


Rebecca

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