SPOILERS: School Books

[littleleahstill]

No: HPFGUIDX 184238

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

 I'm sure she had fun in doing so.
> Unfortunately, having Snape "correct" a student by providing 
incorrect
> information undermines Snape's credibility as a DADA authority (at
> least for those who read FB), yet he does turn out to be a Dark 
Arts
> expert later in the books. (We can argue that minor Dark creatures
> aren't his forte, they're Lupin's, but that doesn't undo the 
damage to
> his credibility in my view.)
'

Leah:

>From the Wikipedia entry on Kappas:

'Kappa ...... are sometimes even said to smell like fish, and they 
can certainly swim like them. The expression kappa-no-kawa-nagare 
("a kappa drowning in a river") conveys the idea that even experts 
make mistakes.'

Who knows whether JKR is aware of this, but if she is, perhaps 
Snape's mistake is a typically backhanded compliment to her DADA 
expert.

Leah