OT Posting and Re: Kreachur

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, Catherine Coleman 
<catherine at c...> wrote:

> I'd love for you to post them here as well, Rita.  OT posting is 
> welcome (and isn't etymology on topic, anyway?  Why OT?)

I've been posting some On Topic posts on the OT list because the 
Main List is insane. (I'm at Message 64680 of 65755 of the Main List, 
and about to reply to it here.) I was wondering if there's enough 
overlap between OT and this list for people to be annoyed by 
seeing my same post twice.

Here is the OT post I mentioned:
--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Catlady (Rita Prince 
Winston)" <catlady at w...> wrote:
> http://www.behindthename.com/ says
> 
> NIGEL   m   English
> Pronounced: NIE-jel
> From Nigellus, a Latinized form of NEIL. It is sometimes associated 
> with Latin niger "black". 
> 
> PHINEAS   m   Biblical (Variant), English
> Pronounced: FIN-ee-as
> Variant of PHINEHAS used in some versions of the Bible. 
> 
> Phinehas is Pinhas (Pinchas). I already knew (and Beyond the Name 
> agrees) that Pinhas is from the Egyptian name Pa-Nehasi, meaning
> the Nubian (like modern kids are named Scott, Norman, Dane). 

Here comes my comment on Pippin's post 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/64680 which says 
some of the same things as some of her posts in this list:

<< Sirius's tragic flaw was his unconscious racism, which Harry 
hasn't quite grasped. 

That, by the way, explains what Hagrid's brother Grawp is doing 
in the book. He is there to point up the fact that Sirius made a 
choice about the way he treated Kreacher. If Sirius had tried to 
bond with Kreacher as Hagrid did with Grawp, then perhaps Sirius 
would have survived. >>

I don't believe that Sirius treating Kreachur with kindness, or 
"trying to bond with him" (Stockholm syndrome?) would have changed 
Kreachur's loyalties. 

Sirius's error in dealing with Kreachur was not failing to view him 
as a brother (maybe it was that he DID view him as a brother, the 
"good" brother who sided with the parents: was that sibling rivalry 
squabbling between them?).

It was failing to watch him alertly, failing to be careful of what 
was said to him and around him. If Sirius hadn't lost his temper and 
shouted "Get OUT!" without specifying "of the kitchen" -- if Sirius 
had demanded to know where Kreachur had disappeared to over Christmas 
-- his error was not that he viewed Kreachur as an inferior, but 
that he acted as if one doesn't have to be watchful over inferiors. 
Lucius made the same mistake with Dobby.

I doubt whether Hagrid kidnapping Grawp and then subjecting him to 
prolonged 'brainwashing' or 'deprogramming' was the most respectful 
and brotherly way to treat an equal intelligent being; much more the 
way to tame a wild animal. 

Hagrid's description of his experience with the giants suggests that 
they deserve their bad reputation (as violent and dangerous and,from 
Hagrid's tale, back-stabbing). I thought that was a *interesting* 
thing for JKR to put in a parable against prejudice ... the rest of 
the new information on giants made me wonder how Fridwulfa was 
intelligent enough to deal with a three syllable name, and WHY  
Hagrid's father fancied someone so, by human standards, ugly.

<< Despite the golden fountain at the Ministry, it never occurred to 
Sirius to think of Kreacher as his brother. >> 

I may never get caught up on the main list, so I take this 
opportunity to reveal my insane hallucination: when I read about that 
fountain statuary, I wondered if they were supposed to be specific, 
named, individuals who had co-operated to save the magical worlds 
(not just wizarding world) from a previous crisis.... Harry and 
Hermione already have Dobby and Firenze, now they need a goblin 
friend.