Dragons/Sentience/Rosie Weasley Romance/heartstring/SocialChange/DoM

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 182096

Zara wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/181998>:

<< The Siberian tiger RL analogy brings up another function Charlie
and Co. may have - they may act analogously to National Park rangers
who prevent poachers from irresponsibly killing off the endangered
animals for a quick Galleon to be made off selling the parts to shady
dealers. >>

It's much harder to poach dragons than to poach tigers. One man with
one rifle can kill a tiger. It takes thirty wizards and witches with
their wands to even Stun a dragon, and I think they needed special
training. Having to team up so many wizards and witches to poach
dragons, and having to conceal and transport an object as large as a
dragon carcass, might make it unprofitable.

Carol wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/182007>:

<< Or how you're defining "sentient." Clearly, they're aware of sense
impressions, which is how I define the term.  >>

I agree with you what 'sentient' should mean, but science fiction
always uses 'sentient' to mean 'having sufficient mental capacity to
deserve "human" rights'. When I was a *much* younger Kitten, I tried
to introduce the word 'sapient' for that meaning, but all my friends
sneered that 'sapient' is not a word.

<< But say that dragons had the intelligence of Buckbeak and at least
some capacity for loyalty. It would seem wrong to kill them for their
magical properties then, wouldn't it? >>

Dogs have a large capacity for loyalty, and breeds like Border Collies
are extremely intelligent, but many many civilizations eat dogs
anyway. And some civilizations eat monkeys and apes, which are more
intelligent than Buckbeak.

Carol wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/182020>:

<< hoping that Rose Weasley does marry Scorpius Malfoy, helping to
heal the Gryffindor/Slytherin feud >>

Personally, I'd like to see Rosie Weasley and Alsev Potter as romantic
rivals over Scorpius Malfoy.

Carol wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/182024>:

<< (whatever a heartstring is)  >>

The American Heritage Dictionary at
<http://www.bartleby.com/61/11/H0111100.html> says:
<< 1. heartstrings The deepest feelings or affections: a tug at the
heartstrings. 2. One of the nerves or tendons formerly believed to
brace and sustain the heart. >>

Thanks to OneLook Dictionary Search <http://www.onelook.com> I noticed
that AHD's definition 2 is strikingly similar to the 1913 Webster's
<http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=heartstring> only
definition: << A nerve or tendon, supposed to brace and sustain the
heart. Shak. >>

I don't recall any strings on the heart of the fetal pig I dissected
in Biology 201, but agree that tendons and major nerves are
string-like. I learned some other interesting anatomical words from a
radio quiz show: the 'cockles' of one's heart are the heart valves,
and the 'apple' of one's eye is the pupil.

Magpie wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/182072>:

<< The books just tend to mirror the Muggle world on that, even when
the WW should probably have its own history. They have social change
because they're a riff on us and our history. >>

The wizarding world remains culturally connected to the Muggle world
because a very large fraction of wizarding folk are Muggle-born and
they bring the latest dialect changes, social norms, and gadgets with
them when they enter the wizarding world. 

Steve bboyminn wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/182090>:

<< Voldemort gets more details about what is literally inside
the Department of Mysteries from ???what's his name??? - the
guy who used to work there. >>

Rookwood. Augustus, Arnold, or Algernon. I propose that the family's
arms are a tower with a black bird standing on it, between two trees
(or on a field seme de trees).