"Lapdog" and "snivel"

[onnanokata]

No: HPFGUIDX 114164

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.]

Matt wrote:
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 
formalwords 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 differencein the meaning of "lapdog" or "snivel" in 
American and British usage,and I doubt the frequency of use is 
terribly different either.
 
-- Matt
 
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[Snip-Refernces and Links see post 114156]

Dharma replies:

I'm in agreement with Matt on usage of these two words.  "Lapdog" 
and "snivel" are both commonly used in political discourse on many 
levels in my experience as a US English speaker.  I've heard native 
and non-native speakers from diverse linguistic backgrounds use these 
words in the "sycophantic" and "whiny" contexts, so I find it rather 
surprising that Carol's interpretation was generalized to all US 
English speakers.  It seems a bit presumptuous to me.  

"Lucius Malfoy's lapdog," was not vague to me at all.  On first 
reading, it implied very strongly to me that Severus did what Lucius 
said because, Lucius was the more influential of the two.

"Snivellus" was also very clear to me upon first reading.  The name 
implied very strongly to me someone who was borderline cowardly and 
likely to blither and whine in an annoying way.  

A friend of mine, who is a native English from Mexico of Mexican 
lineage, interpreted both of these items the same way.  It is not at 
all clear to me that native use of British English and British 
ancestry have much, or anything at all, to do with understanding the 
usage of these two words in the context that JKR presented them.

Dharma