"Lapdog" and "snivel"

[Matt]

No: HPFGUIDX 114156

The exchange between Valky and Carol below amuses me to no end, as
both words are perfectly good American English usage, too.  (No "close
British descent"?  What kind of pure-blood ideology are we building up
here?)

There are plenty of instances of unique British usage in the HP books
that might throw an American reader unfamiliar with such usage --
ranging from slang ("Wotcher," "git," "berk," and the like) to formal
words that have different denotations in American and British use
(such as the "diary" in CS, which we Americans would call a "calendar"
or "datebook").  But I don't think there's any significant difference
in the meaning of "lapdog" or "snivel" in American and British usage,
and I doubt the frequency of use is terribly different either.

-- Matt

-----------------------
American usage of "lapdog":

Merriam-Webster definition --
Function: noun
1 : a small dog that may be held in the lap
2 : a servile dependent or follower   

(Of course, even if the word had not picked up a specific usage as
applied to people, the implication would be a person who acts like a
lap dog, i.e., follows the master everywhere and takes orders.)

Website for an American band named "Lapdog":
http://www.lapdogmusic.com

Politically-charged Salon article portraying Pres. Bush as Ariel
Sharon's lapdog:
http://tinyurl.com/6hmuy

Counterpunch article portraying 9/11 Commission as Bush's lapdog:
http://tinyurl.com/4mjt2

Joke from Jay Leno's monologue back in February, after Pres. Bush's
dog died:
"Some sad news, President Bush's lapdog passed away. Gee, I didn't
even know Tony Blair was sick."  


-----------------------
American usage of "snivel":

Merriam-Webster definition --
Function: intransitive verb
1 : to run at the nose
2 : to snuff mucus up the nose audibly : SNUFFLE
3 : to cry or whine with snuffling
4 : to speak or act in a whining, sniffling, tearful, or weakly
emotional manner

The CALD definition quoted by Valky below also confirms that the term
is used in American English, with the difference that the "l" is not
doubled when forming the participles.  

National Review article celebrating the "sniveling cowardice" of Bob
Hope's character in Road to Utopia:
http://tinyurl.com/3shj9

Slate review of memoir by Jayson Blair (young reporter fired for
plagiarism at the NY Times):
http://slate.msn.com/id/2096811/

Transcript of Powerpuff Girls episode titled "Sniveling Rivalry":
http://tinyurl.com/3sdr5

Article quoting memoir of Katharine Graham (owner of the Washington
Post) regretting a "sniveling" note she wrote to then-Vice President
Spiro Agnew:
http://tinyurl.com/5hces


----------------------
Valky wrote:
> Carol you must not have any close British descent 
> because that is the purely American definition. In 
> British english the word Lapdog also applies to a 
> person and with quite different meaning.
> Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary:
> Definition
> lapdog (PERSON)   
> noun [C] DISAPPROVING
> someone who is willing to do anything that a more 
> important person tells them to do.

Carol:
[Apologies for misunderstanding, even though her
family came over on the Mayflower.]

Valky:
> and while I am at it I think its about time I let you 
> all in on the British meaning of snivel. Since so many 
> american versions have been quoted to contradict me 
> when I argue that the derogatory term of snivel in the 
> language I, *and JKR* was raised into, *British 
> English*, is used to deride someone on their weakness 
> and not necessarily sensitivity. 
> Cambridge advanced Learners Dictionary:
> snivel   
> verb [I] -ll- or US USUALLY -l- 
> to cry slightly in a way that is weak and does not make 
> other people feel sympathy for you.

Carol:
[Comment about how "snivel" is never used in America at all.]