Nit-picking

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 128920

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "rochesteruponmedway"
<rochesteruponmedway at y...> wrote:
> My son has just pointed out to me what may be a small mistake in 
> Chapter 30 of Order of the Phoenix.
> On page 602 it says
> "They found seats in the topmost row of the stands".
> On the following page it says
> "Apparently he (Hagrid) had squeezed his way all along the row 
> behind" Not in any way important, it's just that at 13 you feel 
> delighted to have caught out an adult in a small mistake. Or are we 
> mis-reading?

bboyminn:

Language, it's a very trick thing; without it we can't communicate,
but with it we fair only slightly better.

This may be a mistake, but any good author with a good imagination can
turn a mistake into an 'Oops, I meant to do that'. 

The quoted line indicates the top most row of STANDS; now we must
wonder exactly what 'stands' means. Is it possible for the highest
'stand' to contain several rows of seats? If I was the author caught
in the same mistake, that would certainly be my explanation.

Now, if you are really looking for an inconsistency in
stands/row/seats/chairs, re-read the Quidditch World Cup. By one
measure there are two rows of chairs in the Top Box -- (pg 96) "About
20 purple-and-gilt chairs stood in two rows...". Harry and Co took up
the entire front row; the Ministers (Fudge, Bagman, and at least 2
Bulgarians) , Malfoys(3), and Crouch's elf(2) took up the remaining
back row. Yet, (pg99) "The Box gradually filled around them over the
next half hour". Further (pg100) "Mr. Weasley kept shaking hands with
people who were obviously very important wizards. Percy jumped to his
feet so often that he looked as though he were trying to sit on a
hedgehog". Also remember that this wasn't the top 'row', it was the
top BOX, which implies it was a containted area. Further when the
Veela began to dance, both Harry and Ron were ready to jump from the
railing of the Top Box which implies that there weren't rows of seats
in front of them. 

So, now the question becomes where did all these many many wizards who
appear over the course of a half hour sit? No room in the box (only 20
seats), no room in front of the Box apparently, if they sat in other
near by boxes then why were they in the Top Box?

Again, with a little imagination, I can invent explanations, but
lacking that necessarry imagination, the answer doesn't seem obvious.

I really don't mind the inconsistencies as long as I only see them
after-the-fact. As long as they don't interupt my reading, and so far
they haven't, it does't bother me.

Steve/bboyminn