Chapter Discussions: Chapter 3, the Advance Guard

[Ali]

No: HPFGUIDX 83244

I, Ali wrote:-

 Since writing, Stephen Fry has released his audio version in which 
Tonks has a Lancastrian accent despite  saying "Wotcher" - the use 
of wotcher is still unknown to the author outside of London].

June replied:-
 
>>> Picky Brit comment:  It's a LANCASHIRE accent meaning coming 
from the now non-existent county of Lancashire in north west England 
(it  housed Manchester and cites like that).  Lancastrian either 
pertains  to the extinct royal dynasty that fought in the Wars of 
the Roses (1455-1485) or to the small town of Lancaster in the south 
of the English Lake District.  I therefore say Lancashire because 
that  accent is distinctive.>>>

To quote Stephen Fry:-

"Jo Rowling said I'd done the voices as she imagined them. She 
doesn't say what accents they have, but you get a sense of it from 
the rhythm and word order of their speech. In Phoenix, I instantly 
thought Tonks should sound as if she came from Blackburn or Rochdale 
in Lancashire, slightly Jane Horrocks". See Leaky Cauldron link:-

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/MTarchives/week_2003_09_28.html

Thus, I agree that Stephen Fry at least believes Tonks comes from 
Lancashire. In terms of the Lancastrian definition, I've gone by the 
Concise Oxford Dictionary definition which gives one definition of  
Lancastrian as:-

"Inhabitant or native of Lancashire or Lancaster".

I still maintain that either JKR or Stephen Fry has made a mistake - 
Tonks shouldn't be saying "Wotcher" *Unless* it is an affectation 
that she has adopted. However, I do not believe I was wrong to call 
Fry's accent Lancastrian - unless my dictionary is also wrong.

Ali, an equally picky Brit and LOON.