"Mokesin" or "moleskin"? (Was: CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS: DH7)

[zanooda2]

No: HPFGUIDX 179068

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

> Thanks! Which makes me wonder (again) whether Hagrid's *moleskin*
> overcoat in PoA (Am. ed. 112) was originally *mokeskin* but changed 
> by a copyeditor who thought it was a typo. How did the Russian 
> translator handle that one?


zanooda:


I'm pretty sure that Hagrid's coat is "moleskin" - fabric or fur, I 
don't know. In Russian translation the coat is made of mole fur (poor 
little moles!), not fabric, and same goes for French translation, 
it's called "manteau en poil de taupe" there :-).


> Carol:

> I seem to recall "moleskin" used elsewhere to describe that coat,
> which would not, of course, have to shrink to prevent anyone from
> stealing it.


zanooda:

I remember the word "moleskin" used to describe the coat in PS/SS, 
when Hagrid comes to the library to take books about dragons. And, 
certainly, no one would want a coat that shrinks and disappears every 
time someone approaches its owner :-)!


> Carol:
 
> But the capital "m" in "Mokeskin" in the Bloomsbury edition and the
> repeated use of that word does suggest that "mokeskin" is the right
> word and refers to the shrinking silver-green (Slytherin-colored)
> lizard of FB, and we can only wonder how even JKR (who thinks that a
> horned toad is an amphibian) could think that a lizard would be
> furry--or why Hagrid would buy a purse in Slytherin colors.


zanooda:

I think Hagrid didn't buy the pouch for Harry, he just *had* it, 
maybe for a long time, from somewhere. As for the color - come on, 
such a useful object, who cares about the color :-)! Besides, it's 
not like Gryffindors won't touch anything green! If we are to believe 
JKR's interviews (hmm :-), Ginny Weasley played for Holyhead Harpies 
for a few years, and their uniforms are green! I don't think she came 
to her first game and said: "I'm a Gryffindor and I'm not wearing 
your stinking half-Slytherin uniform!" LOL!