Pixies and pasties (was Ton-tongue toffies and other tongue twisters)

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 157354

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Ken Hutchinson" <klhutch at ...>
wrote:
>
>  "Geoff Bannister"<gbannister10@> wrote:
> >  
> > Cornish pixies on the other hand are mischievous little
> > characters, often portrayed as men with pointed hats and 
> > possibly distant relatives of leprechauns.
> > 
> > ...
> >
> 
> Ken:
> 
> Geoff, I admit our local schools are woefully inadequate 
> when it comes to teaching us the folklore of Cornwall. 
> Perhaps you can enlighten us further. ... Apparently our 
> good Wisconsin mines were infested with creatures known 
> as Tommyknockers .... Tommyknockers do not seem to be 
> mentioned in HP and here is where you could help. Is a 
> Tommyknocker the same thing as a Cornish Pixie, or a
> relative, perhaps?
> 
> Ken ;-)
>


bboyminn;

Wikipedia to the rescue...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommyknocker

Knockers, Knackers, Bwca (Welsh),Knockers, Bucca 
(Cornish) or Tommyknockers (US) are the Welsh and 
Cornish equivalent of Irish leprechauns and English & 
Scottish brownies. About two feet tall and grizzled, 
but not misshapen, they live beneath the ground and are 
most active in and around the mines. Here they wear 
tiny versions of standard miner's garb and commit 
random mischief, such as stealing unattended tools 
and food.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixie_%28folklore%29

Pixies are mythical creatures of English folklore, 
considered to be particularly concentrated in the areas 
around Devon and **Cornwall**, suggesting some Celtic 
origin for the belief and name. In regional dialect, 
these mischievous little folk are sometimes referred to 
as piskies/piskeys or the little people. They are usually 
depicted as wingless, with pointed ears, and often 
wearing a green outfit and pointed hat. Sometimes their 
eyes are described as being pointed upwards at the temple 
ends.

So, it seems that JKR did not simply make up 'Cornish 
Pixie', pixies have always been associated with Cornwall.

Whether they are one in the same, I can not say, but it 
doesn't seem like it.

Just passing it along.

Steve/bboyminn