[HPforGrownups] Re: GoF Sphinx's riddle: Did Harry get it wrong?

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

No: HPFGUIDX 130423

Muscatel:
> And you're absolutely right, Geoff.  No British dialect does.
>
> But the phonology of American English works differently.  The middle
> consonant of, for example, "rider" is pronounced the same there as the
> middle consonant of "writer".  Where BritEng has a voiced alveolar
> stop in the former and a voiceless stop in the latter, AmEng has a
> voiced alveolar flap in both.
>
> As for how "writer" and "rider" are distinguished in AmEng, given that
> the medial consonant doesn't do it, the difference lies in the vowel
> of the first syllable, which is longer in the first than the second.

I've been sitting here whispering "writer" and "rider" under my breath 
for several minutes now (probably giving my coworkers some doubts about 
my sanity in the process), and I've got to say that at least with *my* 
brand of American English "writer" and "rider" don't sound anything 
alike.  "Writer" sounds like "write-er", and "rider" sounds like 
"wry-der".  Completely different.  Still, I can see how "demendor" 
pronounced sloppily enough could give the impression of "dementor," 
which is all that's really needed for this type of riddle, anyway.

On the other hand, I think Harry was right with his "spider" answer -- 
Potterverse characters do not think of Death Eaters as "DE's", and 
"mend" makes no sense as an answer to the second couplet.  Also, the 
"spider" answer is an obvious reference to the Acromantula Harry 
encounters further into the maze.

Laura
http://www.livejournal.com/users/laurahuntley