Tying things up with Iggy. (a forwarded post)

[Jo Ann]

No: HPFGUIDX 95081

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at m...> 
wrote:

> Thank you for asking!  I was wondering about the not/knot pun 
> myself.  I tried looking up names of knots and even ended up on a 
> British Boy Scout Troop's web page. I forgot in the book he is 
> Theodore and was looking for an O Knot.(The O Knot)
> 
> It seems to me that Theo and possibly another Slytherin boy, stay 
> on the edge of the Slytherin group.  While they may be part of the 
> laughter at times, they don't really seem to hang out with Draco.  
> I know it's not certain if there are two skinny boys or one.  But I 
> tend to think two.
> 
> I think Theo's name will work out in one or both ways you 
> suggested.  Now, does anyone out there know anything about knots?


Got a book on knots and ropework in general from a nautical POV here, 
if that's any help.

One item that immediately comes to mind is that the things we 
landlubbers commonly refer to as "knots" are actually four distinct 
classes of rope tricks.  So if we're looking for any complex meanings 
hidden in the name "Knot," we might want to keep these things in mind:

- A 'knot', proper, is used to form a loop in a length of line or to 
create a mass to stop the line from fraying, or to provide a handhold.

- A 'hitch' is used to make a rope fast to another object.

- A 'bend' secures two ropes to each other.

- A 'splice' (really less a knot than a re-weaving of the rope into 
itself) is another way of making loops or securing two ropes together.

- Proper terminology for the creation of a knot is 'to make' or 'to 
put in,' not 'to tie.'

I won't pull a Binns and regurgitate the whole book here, but if you 
want to know anything specific I'll see if it's in here...it mentions 
a bunch of different types of knots and their uses...

J. Spencer