Universitality of Harry Potter

[hekatesheadband]

No: HPFGUIDX 143711

Miles:
> There are some cultural details that distinct Harry Potter as an
> English boy and his sorrounding as British/Irish (the Weasleys are
> surely from Ireland;) ). 

I must correct you on this - the Weasleys are in no way Irish! (If
they were, the twins would refer to Percy as "himself." So would most
of the other characters, come to that.) Their speech is marked as
English, with the children referring to "my mum and dad," as opposed
to Seamus, who speaks of "me man and da." Another note: red hair is
actually rare in Ireland and much commoner in Scotland, and even in
England. The confusion comes from the influx of "Scots-Irish" or
"Ulster Scots" immigrants to North America. They were about as Irish
as they were Mongolian, and the name stuck. A lot of them were
red-haired - more than the other European immigrant groups of the
eighteenth century - hence the association.

-hekatesheadband 
(The screen name is a piddling little classical allusion, not a pagan
one, just for reference.;)