Harry's Height (was SHIP: Banter and other SHIP subjects)

[SHolden]

No: HPFGUIDX 50950

Falcon:
On a separate note, I did discover in GoF that Harry is no longer
short, but rather he is average height. It's in the Divination
class, where Trelawney says, "your dark hair and mean stature." Mean
means average, and stature refers to height. I looked it up in three
different books just to make sure.

Jo Serenadust:
I'm afraid that I must disagree here about the word "mean".  When I
read this section of GoF, I immediately assumed that when Trelawney
mentions Harry's mean stature, she meant that he was small and thin.
I checked the Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary to be sure and
where the word "mean" is listed as an adjective, the first
definition was "1. lacking in distinction or eminence".  There are a
great many definitions for the word "mean" listed and I can
understand how this can be confusing.  I think that the way
Trelawney is using the word is more common in English usage than
American, however.  Perhaps one of our British listmembers could
help clarify this point.

Me:
Okay, I'm a math teacher.  "Mean" is defined as average.  Since Trelawney is
using this term in reference to a height, "mean" is referred to as an
average, so Harry is of *average* height.  Though I also would not mind one
of our British listmembers to inform us on this topic.  :-)

I would also like to point out that in every book, besides GoF, Harry
describes himself as a short skinny boy.  However, in GoF, when he looks at
himself in the mirror:

GoF (US Version) p16

"A skinny boy of fourteen looked back at him, his bright green eyes puzzled
under his untidy black hair."

Harry no longer describes himself as short.

Jo Serenadust:
Anyway, although I'm sure that Harry is growing to some extent every
year, I think that he is still short and small for his age.  After
all, on the same page in GoF as Trelawney's remark about his "mean"
stature we have:

"I've got two Neptunes here," said Harry after a while, frowning
down at his piece of parchment, "that can't be right, can it?"
"Aaaah"' said Ron, imitating Professor Trelawney's mystical
whisper, "when two Neptunes appear in the sky, it is a sure sign
that a midget in glasses is being born, Harry..."

Me:

I always saw this as a jibe at Harry from Ron.

Alright.  I know that the guys on here would probably agree with me,
especially the tall ones (I hope??).  It does not matter about the
difference in height between two guys to call one "a midget."  A guy could
be an inch/few centimeters shorter than the taller guy, and the taller one
would still call the shorter one a midget.  From observing my husband (6
feet and 3 inches) and his brother (5 feet and 11 inches), this is a running
joke with them.

Sarmi


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