Snape's Speech patterns

[Sydney]

No: HPFGUIDX 142142

Carol writes:

> If his mother was a pureblood and his father a working-class Muggle
> (how they met is another question!), he would have had two sets of
> speech patterns to choose from at an early age, and it's clear which
> one he chose.

I'm wondering if Snape's dad left his mum or something-- when he found
out Severus had magic?  I see Snape as someone profoundly consumed
with guilt and shame, and I don't think it's all from the DE's;  if he
blamed himself for his parent's split that might be a factor.  

He could have then moved in with the Pinces, whatever they were like,
sometime between the ages of fivish and eleven, and got all the curses
from them.  Maybe in Knockturn Alley?  I can't think of anywhere else
a child would pick up streetfighting in the Wizarding World, and
Knockturn is such a great location I keep hoping JKR will come back to it.

Carol:
>Also, of course, we must assume that he did a good deal
> of reading both to learn all those hexes and to acquire the vocabulary
> and the ear for style (wit, poetry, etc.) that he has obviously
> acquired and cultivated.
> At any rate, we can see by comparing the nerdy little teen!Snape in
> the Pensieve scene with the adult Sanpe that he has for whatever
> reason, reshaped his image. 

Because of the bedraggled teen!Snape, whose biting retort to James
seemed to consist of nothing but a stream of gutter talk, I would lump
all the cultivation-- the accent, the sweeping walk, the better
posture (although it still can't be that great, JKR does compare him
to a vulture!), to his late teens.  

Carol wrote:

>The man Snape
> is surprisingly athletic, running across the Hogwarts grounds and
> duelling Harry effortlessly and without becoming winded. 

Yay, a chance to introduce my  Snape theory... well, not a THEORY,
more of a notion:  Jogging!Snape.  I got tired just READING about how
he ran from the dungeons to the top of the astronomy tower, took a
30-second kill-Dumbledore breather, then ran all the way back down,
out of the castle, across the grounds, then kicked Harry's butt, AND
he still had breath to do his "I, the Half-Blood Prince!!" yelling
thing.  And think of how often JKR describes Snape as RUNNING-- he ran
to the forest to meet Quirrel, for example, in Book 1, which always
struck me as odd for a guy in his mid-thirties.  So I reckon Snape's a
jogger.  Well, more of a runner.  He seems just the sort of type-A
personality to get up at 5:30 and go for a 5k run around the lake.

Visual aide:  http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=joggingsnape3cs.jpg

--Sydney