Pronunciations (Re: Does Viktor Krum become an important character?)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 118944


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
 
Del:
> Oh ! That reminds me of something else. I don't have my book with 
me,
> but if you'll recall, when Hagrid goes to get Madame Maxime to show
> her the dragons, he greets her with (if I remember correctly)
> "Bong-sewer". Well, believe it or not, but that one had me stumped 
for
> a long time. I figured it might be some British saying of some kind.
> When it finally hit me that Hagrid is trying to say "Bonsoir", I 
went
> into a hysterical fit of laughter :-D !! 
> 
> "Dee-john" might have escaped me too, if Hermione hadn't set it
> straight immediately :-)

Geoff:
These didn't escape me because there are a few examples in English of 
French being corrupted - often it's a hangover from troops in the 
First World War.

A couple which spring to mind are the conversion of the town 
of "Ypres" into "Wipers" and a phrase you still hear from elderly 
folk here is "san fairy ann" meaning "don't worry about it" which is, 
if my French hasn't totally deserted me, a distortion of "ce ne fait 
rien".

English is riddled with this sort of linguistic erosion. One of the 
National Trust's biggest estates, just a couple of miles from me, is 
the Holincote Estate which, in the hands of locals 
becomes "Hunnycutt" - it even gets a mention in Bill Bryson!

Geoff
http://www.aspectsofexmoor.com
Exmoor National Park views, walks and West
Somerset Railway steam and diesel views