Broken potionvial WAS: Re: Bad Writing? (was: JKR and the boys)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 163255

Carol earlier:
> >  Ingenious, Neri, but unfortunately incorrect. "oops" and "whoops"
are identical in meaning. Here's the Merriam-Webster Online definition
of "oops":
> > 
> > Main Entry: oops
> > Variant(s): or whoops also woops /'(w)u(&)ps/
> > Function: interjection
> > -- used typically to express mild apology, surprise, or dismay
> > 
> > "Whoops" doesn't have its own entry as its only a variant of "oops."
> 
> Neri:
> Unfortunately, as any non-native English speaker can tell you,
dictionaries (even Webster) are mostly useless when it comes to 
distinguishing subtle nuances of informal language.

Carol again:
But if a reading depends upon subtle distinctions between "oops" and
"whoops" unrecognized by native speakers and impossible to pinpoint
using a dictionary, what's the use of it? I don't read it that way,
and English is my native language. A straightforward reading does
*not* include any reference to Snape's dropping the potion flask. Not
even Harry thinks such a thing. That assumption is supplied by those
readers who thinks it's in character for Snape to drop the flask.
Unfortunately for those readers, his doing so isn't anywhere in the text.

Of course, even we native speakers and lit majors are aware of subtle
nuances in informal language, but this is a series of children's
books, and I doubt that many children will say, "Oh, he said 'whoops,'
not 'oops,' so it must not have been an accident." Not buying your
argument. Sorry.

Carol, wondering what other subtle nuances we might "discover" if we
analyzed every interjection in the book in terms of the sincerity of
the speaker