[HPforGrownups] Re: A midget in glasses,

Falcon falcon21 at flash.net
Thu Jan 30 04:37:48 UTC 2003


No: HPFGUIDX 51072


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: probonoprobono <probono at rapidnet.com> 
  To: HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 8:43 PM
  Subject: [HPforGrownups] Re: A midget in glasses,


  --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "errolowl 
  <nithya_rachel at h...>" <nithya_rachel at h...> wrote:
  > 
  > 
  > 
  >Tanya> 
  PoA Chapter 2

  Aunt Marge says: "Pardon me. But I do like to see a healthy-sized 
  boy," she went on, winking at Dudley. "You'll be a proper-sized man, 
  Dudders, like your father..."

  "Now this one here-" She jerked her head at Harry, who felt his 
  stomache clench. "This ones got a mean, runty look about him. You 
  get that with dogs. I had Colonel Fubster drown one last year. Ratty 
  little thing it was. Weak. Underbred."

  The definition in my dictionary: Runty -Like a runt; diminutive; 
  mean;adj slang(used especially of persons)of inferior size...

  In this context 'mean' is the same as 'runty'. 

  Me: Why would she use two words to say the same thing? I took this "mean" as in he looks mean. I mean c'mon, he's living with people that treat him badly, Aunt Marge torments him and abuses him as well, do we really think Harry's going to be all smiles and grins around these people. Not hardly. I see him as scowling and frowning a lot, and with his eyes like they are, some of his looks directed at these people could cause them to slightly fear him. "Mean" in this case could indicate viciousness, or dangerous. I've had a lot of dogs, and the "runts" are usually very mean when they get older because they had to fight to get any food. I see the same thing in Harry. Dudley, Vernon and Marge are all porkers, Harry is skinny so they view him as undersized. Of course they never take into account that starving the poor boy may have had an impact on his weight.
  Falcon



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