Neville's parents/What makes a muggle?

[susannacedric]

No: HPFGUIDX 79958

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jesmck" <jesmck at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "esmith222002" <c.john at i...> 
> wrote:
> > I just wanted to discuss something my wife noticed from the PS.  This 
> > concerns Neville and his 'Wizard discovery' speech. Neville refers to 
> > the fact that his family thought he was all muggle up until this point.
> >
> > POINT 1 - Neville's parents are supposedly Alice and Frank 
> > Longbottom. Therefore, if Neville was non-magical, surely he would be 
> > described as a squib (ie non magic person with two magical parents)
> 

> Jessica:
> I think that when Neville is saying "all muggle" it's kind of like 
> slang.  Or maybe it's a kind of dig toward squibs that's commonly 
> used. I can't picture Neville trying to offend someone, so it's 
> probably one of those things that's offensive, but said so often a 
> kid might not pick up on it being offensive. He also says it when he 
> knows that he's not a squib and he would probably assume that 
> everyone at Hogwarts is a wizard, so he may think there aren't any 
> squibs around to offend.


It might also be the fact that the word 'squib' isn't really 
introduced until Filch is 'outed' by Harry and that doensn't  happen 
until book three (hope my memory serves me right on this fact). So 
maybe JKR didn't want the term to be revealed until then, similar to 
the Thestrals issue.

Susanna