Professor Snape- Master of This School!

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 162468

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Sydney" <sydpad at ...> wrote:

> "Master" means the same as "teacher" in England-- it's a little
> old-fashioned, but it's used for Snape a lot, as he's always called
> the "Potions Master" as someone might have been called the "Chemistry
> Master" or the "Latin Master" a couple of decades ago.  So "Master of
> this School" means nothing more than "Teacher at this school", as one
> is 'Master of', rather than 'Master at'. I suppose he's simply evoking
> what little bit of authority he has over the object as he would over a
> student.

Geoff:
It's perhaps old-fashioned in an informal context. I always referred to 
myself as a "schoolteacher'.

However, one of the biggest teaching unions in the UK is the National 
Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers - a title which r
olls very easily off the tongue.