Right vs. Easy (Ron WAS: Re: DH reread CH 4-5)

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 186355

> > Magpie:
> > I'm not going to say that's wrong or that these choices can't be framed that way. But for me I'd still be using that translation that you suggested above--if for these people 'easy' means 'cowardly' I can just translate the wrong word for the right one and that's the books I read and it all fits together.
> 
> Zara:
> It's not just "these people", it is me too. That's what I understood the text to mean, without stopping myself to say "Oh gee, I must translate to make any sense of this".

Magpie:
So when Harry decides to take credit for the Prince's work or cheat on his divination homework or Ron decides to Confund the driving instructor, that doesn't at all seem more about "easy" than places where a character is choosing out of cowardice?

Because I get that it makes sense, but "cowardice" and "easy" are two different words and I don't see what value there is in conflating the two of them. Especially since, actually, the cowardly choice *isn't* always easy. In fact, I don't think the cowardly choice is easy in many examples of the Potterverse.

> Zara:
> I don't see where your definition of "easy" fits in the context of this speech.

Magpie:
It does if I use the translation that easy=cowardly in Dumbledore's speech, perhaps because he assumes cowardly=easy. But since I don't I have to translate to the word that actually fits the concept that he's talking about. If he'd just said "The time when we have to choose what is right over what is cowardly" I'd say there's plenty of examples in canon without wanting to raise my hand and disagree with the idea that because something is cowardly it was easy. Which is probably why I wouldn't be Sorted in Gryffindor.

-m