CHAPTER DISCUSSION: PS/SS 3, The Letters from No One

[geoff_bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 187801

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at ...> wrote:

Potioncat: 
> The tons and tons of letters that seem to follow after the Dursleys and Harry remind me of a certain type of magical story. One (of several) that comes to mind is Strega Nona. She has a magic pasta pot that won't stop producing pasta until a certain incantation is spoken. I know the basis is a little different, but there is an established folklore concerning something magical that continues to produce until the proper word is spoken, or correct action taken.

Geoff:
And the "Sorcerer's Apprentice?
 
Potioncat:
>5. Why does Petunia hand Vernon a fruitcake when he is nailing the mail slot shut instead of a hammer?
 
> As I read it, he was nailing the  door shut, and she handed him a snack. I didn't think the intent was to use the fruitcake on the nails. Maybe she was hoping the food would distract him. Fruitcake isn't something we typically eat in July in the US. Would Brits eat it this time of year? I think she was so befuddled that she took a forgotten Christmas cake from the pantry. In the US, we sometimes refer to someone being, "as nutty as a fruitcake." Nutty in this case means crazy.  So I took it as sort of a visual pun. Is that phrase used the same way by Brits? 

Geoff:
Don't confuse Christmas cake and fruit cake. The first *is* a fruitcake but a 
very rich one. We eat lighter fruit cakes at any time during the year.

"Nutty as a fruit cake" is indeed a Brit expression.