Snape's hair; the term "professor" (was: Snape's hair and status)

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 58521

Gail writes:

>Hello everyone, I decided to jump in and start posting. :-)

<SPLASH!>
Welcome, Gail!

>I have had a theory about the Snapalicious hair for ages. I think it is 
>quite simply that no-one has told him that he has oily hair and needs to 
>use shampoo and conditioner specially formulated for oily hair, or that he 
>needs to shampoo his hair twice each wash.

Eloise:
But...but...but...
He's the *Potions* master!!!
He's mastered the tricky Wofsbane Potion, yet he can't whip up a simple cure 
for oily hair ?  

Or then again, may be oily hair is even trickier to deal with magically than 
werewolves!

But no, Gail, you're not the first person to want to get Snape's head in a 
basin with a good dollop of the right shampoo. Although there are plenty of 
willing volunteers round here who would obviate the need for a visit to the 
hairdresser. ;-)

Actually, the very fact that he spends so much of his life in a dungeon full 
of steaming cauldrons is a defence that has been cited before for his having 
greasy hair (although IIRC it was supposed to have been so when he was still a 
student). Days spent bending over bubbling cauldrons of goodness know what 
can't help though. A more imaginative explanation once was that he is forced to 
oil his hair daily because otherwise it bounces out of control all over the 
place! A third is that it is a manifestation of a depressive personality meaning 
that he just doesn't care about his appearance.
    
On a different topic,

Gail:
>Why do the teachers at Hogwarts and other magical schools have to be 
>full-fledged professors? Do they answer to a magical Education Department, 
>as well as (in the case of private schools like Hogwarts) the board of 
>governors?

Eloise:
You're not the first person to wonder about this and there are various 
theories out there about post-Hogwarts education and who is entitled to become a 
professor or not.

I actually think that the explanation for the use of the term "professor" is 
quite prosaic. The Potterverse appears quite archaic culturally in some ways. 
The title,  "Professor" did not used to have the same connotations as it has 
now (and of course, those connotations are themselves different on either side 
of the Atlantic). I think to a British reader it is perhaps a more obviously 
archaic usage, as for us a modern professor is the head of a university 
department (I was going to say faculty, but again this is a term with different US/UK 
meanings). It's the highest post a teaching academic can have. The title of 
Charlotte Bronte's _The Professor_, OTOH, refers to a *teacher*. In any case, 
it is a position, not a qualification.

A related question that is often asked is why Snape is referred to as the 
Potions *master*. This is just British common usage. The odder thing is that 
Flitwick isn't referred to as the Charms master, Lupin as the DADA master, etc. 

Thre does seem to be some hint that Hogwarts answers to the MOM, from Fudge's 
remarks to Dumbledore at the end of GOF. Whether there is an education 
department within the ministry is not clear.

~Eloise

    
    



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]