Translation

[Geoff]

No: HPFGUIDX 189513

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jlmss090505" <jlmss090505 at ...> wrote:

John:
> Hi, everyone!
 
> I'm a newcomer and not native.
 
> I have a question about a sentence in HP and Sorcerer's Stone (p43).

> Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday - and you
> could usually count on Dudley to know the days of the week, because of
> television - then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. Of
> course, his birthdays were never exactly fun - last year, the Dursleys
> had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.
> Still, you weren't eleven every day.
 
> What does the last sentence mean?

> Can anyone help me? Thanks. 

Geoff:
As a native UK English speaker, I would use this in a downbeat, perhaps
deprecating manner.

As an imaginary example, I might say: "I went to London last week. The 
weather was bad, it rained most of the time, the train broke down on the 
way and the day I wanted to go to the Changing of the Guard, there was a 
bomb scare and it was cancelled. Still, I don't go to London every day."

If you know the Winnie-the-Pooh books, my wife and I will refer to 
someone as an Eeyore. This sort of comment is a bit Eeyore-ish.