Funny questions (I hope)

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 116579


"ginnysthe1" <ginnysthe1 at y...> wrote:
> 
> While re-reading GoF last night, I came across this paragraph (ch. 
> titled The House-Elf Liberation Front, p. 381, US Scholastic ed.):
> 
> <[Says Winky] "... My poor Mr. Crouch, what is he doing without 
> Winky? <snip>  I is looking after the Crouches all my life, and my 
> mother is doing it before me, and my grandmother is doing it 
before 
> her... oh what is they saying if they knew Winky was freed?  Oh 
the 
> shame, the shame!"  She buried her face in her skirt again and 
> bawled.>
> 
> Winky's got a mother?!  And a grandmother?!  And they might still 
be 
> alive somewhere?  Clearly she hasn't been writing tell-all letters 
to 
> them...  For that matter, that must mean she's got a father and 
> grandfather too, and maybe sisters and brothers?  

Potioncat:
I don't think Winky's mother and grandmother are alive.  I think 
the "what is they saying if they knew Winky was freed?" doesn't 
really mean present tense.I think it's more what would they say if 
they knew,  in the same way that some people might say "Grandpa 
would spin in his grave if he knew..." 

Particularly since Winky's mother served the Crouches before Winky 
and Winky's grandmother served before Winky's mother.