First name adressing = same House?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 84425

I wrote:
> > So first names don't indicate being in the same house, but they do
> > indicate the speaker's attitude toward the other person--sort of 
> > like the use of the familiar form of "you" in languages that 
> > make that distinction.

Caipora wrote:
> The British use first names less than Americans do. How much less 
> only a Limey could tell you. 
<snip>
> 
> English does have a second person singular famililar form, and verbs 
> even conjucate differently for it; it's "thou". 
> 
> Rarely used nowadays, of course, but it *is* there.


I know. I was actually thinking as I wrote my earlier post of a
literary critic's statement that the Green Knight's use of "thou" to
King Arthur in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" was a deliberate
indication of disrespect and equating that act in my own mind with
Tom's use of Hagrid's first name--a deliberate attempt put Hagrid in
his place that went completely over Hagrid's head (so to speak).
"Thou" was still in use in Yorkshire in the 19th century. I don't know
what the case is now. (I'm American, as you may have guessed.)

I'm also wondering about Snape and Karkaroff in the Yule Ball scene
calling each other "Severus" and "Igor," and Harry's(?) remark that he
didn't know they were on first name terms. They clearly aren't
friends, but I suppose the device is meant to suggest that they're
better acquainted than the reader at first expects--and maybe, like so
much else, to arouse our suspicions about Snape. (I, for one, think
Dumbledore is right in his judgment.)

Carol