Petty politics

[pne]

I wasn't sure what to think when I read about how Harry was treated by Professor Umbridge and Angelina in the place where I'm at right now...

Specifically, Angelina scolding him for not being at Quidditch try-outs and telling him he should get his priorities straight. Harry says that it wasn't his choice that he can't make it, but Angelina doesn't listen. She says he should convince Professor Umbridge to skip Friday's detention.

I felt bad and helpless at the way Harry was treated: he didn't have any control over the situation and I felt he was being treated unfairly. Even if you consider that he, arguably, had control over having been given detention because it was his outbreak in class that caused it, it was only one day's detention at first and I don't know whether he could reasonably have been expected to know it'd be four days in the end.

That kind of thing happens to other people, too—being treated in a certain way because of something you have no control over, and you can't even explain why you have no control over it because people don't listen to you. It makes me feel really bad ("oisairo'a" is probably the right term—roughly, "social discomfort"), mostly because I feel helpless.

Incidentally, what's a Squib in the Harry Potter universe?

Comments

[angelsk.livejournal.com]

A squib is like a magician muggle (bad at magic).

[ali-in-london.livejournal.com]

In my (obsessive) opinion, I think a Squib is someone that is not necessarily bad at magic, rather just incapable of it. I get the impression that they lack whatever natural store of power or connection to magic that normal witches and wizards have.

mhw has the theory that Squibs act as magical dampeners, and any spells and hexes just bounce off them. This possibly explains why Filch can still work as a caretaker at Hogwarts, since if it was known that he was a Squib and Squibs were vunerable to magic then all hell would have broke loose, since the kids would have exploited the weekness.

squib

[pne.livejournal.com]

In my (obsessive) opinion, I think a Squib is someone that is not necessarily bad at magic, rather just incapable of it.

After looking up a couple of on-line Harry Potter dictionaries (I knew they had to exist) in order to refresh my memory, I'll agree with you. Most defined a squib as something like "a child of a wizard family with no magical power". So not really a Muggle, but not a wizard/witch, either.

mhw has the theory that Squibs act as magical dampeners, and any spells and hexes just bounce off them. This possibly explains why Filch can still work as a caretaker at Hogwarts, since if it was known that he was a Squib and Squibs were vunerable to magic then all hell would have broke loose, since the kids would have exploited the weekness.

Interesting theory. It does sort of stand to reason, though.

Re: squib

[haela.livejournal.com]

I thought Filch was just terribly embarrassed to be a Squib. :) Like when he was caught taking that course that supposedly teaches magic to Squibs. In his position he'd be the laughingstock of the school if he was "found out." Imagine if Dumbledore or Snape had no magical powers at all.. Nobody would take them seriously. But then again this kind of goes along with mhw's theory, because even if Filch is vulnerable to magic, he can't protect himself. I don't think anyone's tried any magic on him so far, but what student would dare try to do that to an authority figure in order to find out? As long as the students think he has defenses they're going to think he's more powerful anyway.

Then again I'm still in the middle of the 4th book.. There might be things you know that I don't..

Are you reading it in English or another language? I have been wondering how the versions of Harry Potter in other languages deal with the "funny words" like muggle, squib, etc.

Harry Potter

[pne.livejournal.com]

I'm reading it in English; I generally prefer to read books in English if that's the original version and I can get my hands on them. (And the books aren't even out in German yet.)

It's true that Harry Potter presents some interesting challenges to the creator, especially because of the made-up words. I found this site (http://www.cjvlang.com/Hpotter/index.html) interesting; it compares the translation in Chinese (both Mainland and Taiwan version), Japanese, and Vietnamese and also includes notes on how some of the "funny words" and names of books and people were translated.

Re: Harry Potter

[haela.livejournal.com]

This is exactly what I wanted to see. :) "Priori Incantatem" is "Whoosh whoosh, previous spells appear" in Taiwan Chinese. But it looks like they tried to phonetically do things like Gryffindor, Dementor, etc. This is very fascinating :)