Who is berk (Diaries)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 107618

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Annette Hamel" 
<annettehamel at h...> wrote:

Annette:
> Perhaps our British list members can shed more light on this, but I 
have a 
> British friend who refers to her day-planner as a "diary", and when 
(for 
> instance) we are told that there will be a meeting at 3:00 on 
Monday, she 
> will say "I must put that down in my diary", or, "I must check my 
diary for 
> appointments."  I think the term "diary" may also be used in this 
fashion, 
> not just to mean "journal."
> 
> Note that when Harry finds the diary, he thinks it's odd that it 
doesn't 
> have any *appointments* written in it, like "dentist appointment 
Wednesday". 
>   Also, it appears that the pages of Tom Riddle's diary are dated, 
whereas a 
> journal-type diary often isn't.  I'm assuming Tom's diary was of 
the 
> day-planner variety.

Geoff:
Having just reurned from 10 days holiday in Cornwall and the Isles of 
Scilly, I find myself with 1400 messages to trawl through. This one 
caught my eye and didn't seem to have had a reply so I will use it as 
a launch pad....

In the UK, "diary", as you suggest, is used to describe a daily 
record of one's doings (as in the case of Samuel Pepy's diary) and 
also to indicate events and appointments. The word "journal" to the 
majority of UK folk would probably indicate a magazine of some sort 
(viz the Wall Street Journal).

Referring to Tom Riddle's diary as an example, if you were to go into 
one of the big UK stationers - W.H.Smith for example - and ask for a 
diary, you would be directed to a shelf of pre-dated books, often 
formatted as a day per page or a week to a double page. I think the 
practice of writing a "journal" is not practiced much and hasn't been 
for many years. I doubt whether Tom Riddle kept much in his diary....