Dumbledore's Unspeakable Word (going OT)

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Mike & Susan Gray" <aberforthsgoat at h...> 
wrote:
> 
> Not to be judgmental or anything, old boy, but I'd like to think you're
> being a little naïve about us religious types. I belong to the species
> (though I suffer from a touch of congenital agnosticism) - but I'm very
> proud about being as cynical as the next guy when it comes to the love
> of my (or anybody else's) fellow man. (Though I can't hold a candle to
> plenty of other religious sorts. A nice, stern calvanist take on the
> natural human capacity for love is enough to make a gorilla blush.)
> 
> Anyway, that was exactly my point about the postmodern bowlderization.
> It's very reasonable to guess that Jo, feeling a bit squeamish about
> having Dumbledore do an Oprah, elided the word love. Love *is* such an
> ambiguous, overused word, so why not leave it sort of hovering on the
> edges of the text, making you think about what you use it for before you
> fill it into the blanks?
>


Feel free to be as judgemental as you wish, it can be quite entertaining
when boards become red in tooth and claw, though it do tend to make
the squeamish squeam and site managements to have fits of the vapours.

However. "postmodern bowdlerisation" seems not to fit the bill to me. I
understand what you're getting at - "the word that dare not speak its name"
but it seems to me that in this postmodern era the word is almost universal
in its application - and misuse, come to that. It's now an omnibus word
that can mean much or (literally) nothing.

To go back to my earlier post - just which OED definition of the word
(it gives 10 main ones) do you think JKR intends us to slot into the vacant
position? Yes, I know that that is a very mischievous question - a veritable
minefield for almost any answer that can be given. But it's fair - if she 
wants us to assume that *** is all around, **** conquers all, all you need
is ****, **** is a many splendoured thing, **** for sale, **** me **** my dog,
**** means never having to say you're sorry and countless other popular 
expressions thereof, she'll need to be a bit more specific than she appears 
to be at the moment 'cos that demonstrated by Harry is very limited and
very specific - to just a few individuals.

I don't claim that you're wrong - though I'll be very depressed if you're
right, I'd hoped for something more than an ending cliched even by the 
standards of daytime TV.

Serves me right for indulging in optimism.  
 
Kneasy