[HPforGrownups] Re: British Boarding School Books By "Old Boys": Read by Rowling?

[Diana Williams]

No: HPFGUIDX 61326

From: "Susan Fox-Davis" <selene at earthlink.net>
>
> There's one thing I find missing from my mental image of British
> boarding
> school culture.  The students are not always addressed by their
> surnames,
> and particularly siblings are not referred to as <surname> Major for the
>
> elder and <surname> Minor for the younger. Maybe they don't do this
> anymore?  Admittedly, this could get dashed confusing for a family like
> the Weasleys;  theoretically, they had five of them at Hogwarts at once
> [Charlie, Bill, Percy and the Twins]  and come to think of it, five last
>
> year as well [Percy, Twins, Ron, Ginny].


If there are more than two siblings, they use Latin numerical designations
(or they used to when my friend and his four brothers went to school).  In
other words, the oldest Weasley currently attending the school would be
Weasley Primus, etc.  I think as the older ones leave school, the younger
ones move up in designation as well, which could be kind of confusing if
you're used to being Weasley Tertius (I may not be spelling that correctly)
and then after the Twins leave school you're Weasley Major (that would be
Ron).

Diana W.