JKR didn't say "No: was re: Life-saving bonds

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 94681

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "naamagatus" 
<naama_gat at h...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" 
<foxmoth at q...> > 
> 
> > But she didn't say that! She said, "Erm...I don't think so." And 
> > since she knows all about Snape, that's evasive,IMO. An 
> > interviewer wouldn't have let her get away with it, but 
fortunately 
> > for her, there's no possibility for follow-up questions in a chat.
> > 
> > 
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/JKRWorldBookDay2004.html
> > 
> > It's  like, "Mum, does this receipt from the bicycle shop I 
> > found in the bin have anything to do with Bobby's Christmas 
> > present?" At which point Mum realizes that little Bobby is 
> > listening hard,  and says:
> > 
> > "Erm...I don't think so." Meaning, 'Well-spotted, but don't let's 
> > spoil the surprise.' <g>
> 
> 
> But in this case, when Mum says "I don't think so", she is 
telling a  lie. It's a lie, because in common usage, if you ask 
somebody  something, and they say "I don't think so", you take it 
to mean "as  far as I know, no." As in (upon hearing of 
ESE!Lupin) I would  ask, "Pippin, are you totally crazy?", to which 
you can answer,  truthfully, "I don't think so." Meaning, "as far as
I 
know, no, I'm  not crazy." <g>
> 
> When JKR said "I don't think so", she knows (as anyone would 
who is  an English speaker) that it's immediately interpreted as 
"as far as I  know, no." So, if she said it and Snape *is* a 
vampire, then she  deliberately tried to create a false impression 
with the participants; which is to lie. <

You've never heard anyone say, "I don't think so, I *know* so"? To 
think is to exercise the power of reason, and of course, JKR 
does not need to reason out whether Snape is a vampire or not.

 As I pointed out earlier, JKR herself uses such a construction in 
one of the very first references to Snape, "At the start of term 
banquet, Harry had got the idea that Professor Snape disliked 
him. By then end of the first Potions lesson he knew he'd been 
wrong. Professor Snape didn't dislike Harry--he *hated* him." 
-PS/SS ch.8 emphasis JKR's. 

Dumbledore himself says something deliberately ambiguous  in 
OOP: "Tonight was supposed to be the first meeting" -- where 
Fudge takes the meaning of "supposed" as "intended" but we 
know that  Dumbledore really means the other sense: 
"presumed to be true without conclusive evidence." 

This is a deliberate attempt to mislead. But Dumbledore doesn't 
appear to regard it as lying--more like he's giving Fudge a choice 
about how to interpret his words, and letting Fudge jump to 
conclusions.  

All the books are filled with deliberate attempts to create false 
impressions...that's what mystery stories are about!  But when 
you have all the facts, you see how you were led to misinterpret, 
for example, Snape's actions at the first Quidditch match, or what 
Quirrell meant when he said "C-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I 
am to meet you."  Rowling explains her attitude in the following 
quote:

Reader's Digest
December 2000
J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter Tim Bouquet
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2000/1200-readersdige
st-boquet.htm

"Readers loved to be tricked, but not conned."

IMO, if she says, "No" plainly and the answer turns out to be 'Yes' 
that would be a con. But if she gives an obviously cagey answer, 
and we let our own eagerness to have the matter settled  supply 
a certainty that isn't there, then we've conned ourselves, which is 
a very different matter. I'm perfectly willing to entertain the idea 
that Snape isn't a vampire, but she gave a cagey answer 
because she hates to spoil a theory. But I can't see that she gave 
a cagey answer because she wanted the matter closed.

Pippin