Serious or Sirius (was Re: CHAPDISC: HBP1, The Other Minister)

[kiricat4001]

No: HPFGUIDX 141841

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at y...> 
wrote:

> > 6.  Is "Serious" Black now officially innocent? 

> Question: JKR twice puts "Serious" (Black) in quotation marks in this
> chapter. Is she doing that to indicate that this is how the PM thinks
> it's spelled (like "Kwidditch" for Quidditch)? Or is "Serious" not 
the
> correct pronunciation for Sirius (which means I've been 
mispronouncing
> it all this time)?

Marianne:

The pronunciation of Sirius has come up for discussion on some Potter 
fanfic sites I visit.  From comments I've seen there, Sirius 
and "serious" are homonyms for Americans, while there is a slight 
difference in pronunciation for Brits, "Sirius" being pronounced with 
a somewhat longer "E" sound than in "serious."  Which has then led 
people to discuss whether using word plays on the pronunciations makes 
sense or not, as in dialog like:

"I'm serious," said James.

"No, I'm Sirius," Sirius replied.

JKR has admitted to visiting various Potter sites.  I wonder if she's 
picked up on this and decided to play a bit herself.  Or perhaps this 
is just another small indication of the difference between the WW and 
the Muggle world - it wouldn't occur to the PM that someone was named 
after a star, and thus the only possible way he could interpret what 
Fudge said was "serious."

Marianne