The Prank? The Trick?

[kiricat2001 <Zarleycat@aol.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51479


Dicentra wrote:
  The Prank was most surely a prank
> > (as far as we can tell), but there's a world of difference 
between a
> > step and a stomp.
> >

And then Pen followed with:
> Off on a favourite tangent...  as I remember, Lupin didn't describe 
> what Sirius did as a 'prank', he described it as a 'trick'.  To me, 
the 
> shades of meaning implied in 'prank' are fairly lighthearted, 
> non-serious in intention, probably meant to amuse.  'Trick' is 
> potentially more sinister.  To me at least, it carries greater 
> implications of malice than does 'prank'.  It also seems to me that 
a 
> bit more thought goes into a trick than into a prank.  IOW, Sirius 
> *meant* to do something nasty.  (His subsequent defensiveness, 
along 
> the lines that Snape deserved it, confirms this.)
> 
> So why do we all call it 'The Prank'?


Well, in consulting my trusty Webster's (American English) 
dictionary, the definition of prank is (are you ready?) "a 
mischievous trick."

Trick has more possiblities:  1. something designed to deceive, cheat.
2. a practical joke; prank.  3. a clever act intended to amuse, 4. 
any feat requiring skill, 5. a personal mannerism, 6. a round of 
duty, shift, and several others that get farther afield than the 
meanings we're looking at.

Maliciousness is never mentioned. I realize we're splitting hairs 
here, but I think we have to cross our collective fingers for JKR to 
give us more details on this indident before we can ever hope to put 
it to rest.  

And, as to why we all call it "the prank" - I honestly don't 
remember...

Marianne, who's firmly with dicentra on this one