Tonks not male (was: Why is Tonks clumsy?) - also Dale vs Fry

[macfotuk at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 111827

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, caesian <caesian at y...> wrote:


<snip>

> It's unlikely that Tonks is male, because her voice is apparently 
> female.  Unlike polyjuice potion, which does transform the voice, 
Tonks 
> the metamorphmagus seems to retain her characteristic voice 
despite 
> altered appearance.
<snip>

> Caesarian then lists well-chosen examples of where Tonks altered 
appearance is accompanied by a woman's vice recognisable as hers.

I agree. IMO Tonks is clearly female. Like others have said she is 
clumsy in my view to make her more fallible/human as a character and 
perhaps because she has to do something stupid later (books 6 or 7)
that matters. Also JKR is notching up her female characters, of whom 
there were only a few in the earliest books. She introduces 
metamorphagy which someone else pointed out may be one of HP's 
unrecognised skills since he could regrow hair overnight even before 
knowing of the WW (see SS/PS): Others have pointed out that magic 
which becomes important later is always first introduced innocently 
earlier (e.g. polyjuice and timeturners). And by the way, someone 
mis-translated whotcher as what cheer when any Englishmen knows it 
means whatch'ya (watch you) as in how are you doing? watch yourself. 
I think JKR's use of English is a very English use (of England that 
is) and won't always be picked up upon correctly in the US (her 
largest market), hence the alternative versions of both text and 
audiotape (though am surprised at her using Jim Dale who, if 
Americanised over the years remains an Englishman better known to us 
elderly ones as a buffoon in 'carry on' films).