eck-spelling

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

Do you think Pansy's regressing in her shock about her mother's crisis? A quick list shows a major change in Pansy's writing: eckspelled (she spells it right before she crosses it out in the post but spells it wrong here and here); dint; actully; priviledges.

Or is Pansy trying to fit in better by bringing her spelling down to the level of her peers? Or is Padma's influence having a viral effect on everyone else including Pansy? I even considered for a moment whether Padma'd got hold of Pansy's journal, but I'm pretty sure that's not what's going on.

Relatedly, I thought it was pretty darned funny when Pansy imitated Padma's illiteracy in Padma's own comments and little Miss Pureblood Ravenclaw didn't catch the point. I think Padma's first quill split so it wouldn't have to write her sentences anymore. (I dint know kwills cud cumit suey-side.)


ETA: Rather than start a new post, I want to note here that Pansy says here that her father told her to always ask questions. (I'm pretty sure she's said this before -- sometime during the Marie episode.) I'm taking this as an important piece of evidence about her father and I'm adding it into my personal theory that Mr. Parkinson met a "friendly-fire" end at the hands of his fellow Death Eaters or at the business end of the LP's own wand. My best guess is that Lucius was responsible. And, in any case, I suspect that Mr. Parkinson was unhealthily inclined to question Death Eater tactics/motives/ideology. If Bellatrix is a model of zeal, I suspect he once defined the other end of the spectrum. (I wonder if he and Regulus were friends/allies.)

Comments

[alt-player.livejournal.com]

Listen, if a Ravenclaw isn't worried about her spelling obviously no one else needs to either. It's not like it's for a grade.

-Harry's player

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

Ah, so it is viral! (The Ravenclaw has set a very low bar for off-assignment writing...)

I rather like the irony. And, anyway, we seem to have a rather slack Ravenclaw house in game. I mean Penelope Clearwater doesn't seem to be exactly fierce in her academic dedication, either. (Or maybe it's just having to work with Percy that puts her off her game.) In any case, I'm kind of looking for Penelope to give Padma a talking to about putting such an illiterate public face on their House. (Penelope may not be the girl for that job, but she's the only older Ravenclaw we've got.)


/asking too much

[alt-player.livejournal.com]

Perhaps all the really academic Ravenclaws are studying, not journalling. ;)

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

I'll buy that.

[brimtoast.livejournal.com]

Well, Pansy's eckspelled spelling was written after Padma spelled it ecspelled in her post. I don't think she was mocking her, but maybe she had that spelling of it in her mind and that's what made her write it. Or, I don't know, maybe she actually is playing dumb a little on purpose, since she was able to spell it correctly the time she crossed it out, but was right back to misspelling it in the comments on the same post. Pansy is really tricky to figure out. Is she actually having changes of heart when she acts like this? Or just getting better and better at hiding her true thoughts and feelings so that people will leave her alone and her mom won't get sicker and so on?

I have mixed feelings about all the misspellings lately. On the one hand, it's a good reminder that these are youngish kids, and it's realistic for their spelling to be imperfect. On the other hand, I like reading stuff that's spelled correctly. I guess it does give us good info about the state of mind of other students and how much they care the impression they are making on others (especially adults). Draco, for example, has very good spelling, probably because he cares enough to.

Did you notice the other day that Lucius almost called Pansy "Am-" (http://alt-pansy.livejournal.com/7373.html?thread=119501) which I am guessing is for Amanda, who I believe is his sister. I was immediately much more interested in Amanda, if she's someone who Pansy reminds Lucius of.

I really want to know what precisely Pansy's new quill does. She said sometimes it hurts her. I'm picturing something like the punishment quill that Umbridge made Harry use in Book 5, except maybe it is only activated when she writes certain things?

I share your theory about Pansy's father! (http://community.livejournal.com/alt_fen/11133.html?thread=90237#t90237)

I've also been wondering if Regulus is really back to being a DE, or if he is biding his time so he can go steal another horcrux.

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

I did notice Lucius' near slip in calling Pansy "Am-"; I think you are exactly right about it, too. Now I'm interested in why it is that Amanda and mother live in France. She first came up when the journals were new and had prodded Regulus out of hiding. In that context, Lucius wondered if he and Narcissa would reconnect with Amanda. I think there have been other hints that Amanda had a sort of eventful time at Hogwarts and that she might not have been as good at obeying the rules of pureblood exclusiveness as Narcissa was (and Lucius, of course). I'm too lazy to hunt up those references at the moment (and I'm not ready for class tomorrow, so I'm not going to let myself hare off on that hunt! I'm not, self, I'm not!)

Re. the quill. Lucius says someplace today/yesterday that Umbridge is amongst those who chastised him over Pansy's lack of decorum. I rather bet that the Minister herself recommended the quill spell that is now influencing Pansy's quill. (If Padma could get a new quill, I wonder why Pansy didn't lose/damage/trade hers for another when she realised. Now, of course, it seems that she feels she deserves punishment, but yesterday was a different story -- and as you say, one isn't certain that she means every penitent thing she says.)

[alt-player.livejournal.com]

Hint: Look at the name of Pansy's journal.

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

Well, never say that I can't take a hint.

Perhaps a reference to Elvis Costello's "Complicated Shadows," in which case, I'm guessing that Pansy (a) really means it when she tells Harry that she's afraid, and yet (b) hasn't lost her nonconformist, critical mind.

Well you know your time has come, and you're sorry for what you've done.
You should never have been playing with a gun
In those Complicated Shadows.
Well, there's a line that you must toe,
And it'll soon be time to go,
But it's darker than you know in those Complicated Shadows.
All you gangsters and rude clowns,
Who were shooting up the town
When you should have found someone to put the blame on.
Though the fury's hot and hard,
I still see that cold graveyard:
There's a solitary stone that's got your name on.

You don't have to take it from me,
But I know what I spake.
You think you're like iron and steel,
But iron and steel will bend and break
In those Complicated Shadows.

Go!

Sometimes justice you will find
Is just dumb not colour-blind,
And your poor shattered mind can't take it all in.
All those phantoms and those shades
Should jump up on Judgement Day
And say to the Almighty, "I'm still stinking of sin."

But the jury was dismissed.
Took his neck and they give it a twist.
So you see you won't be missed in those Complicated Shadows.

You can say just what you like in a voice like a John Ford film.
Take the law into your hands,
You will soon get tired of killing
In those Complicated Shadows.
Complicated Shadows
Complicated Shadows
Complicated Shadows

Go!

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

If all of this resonates with Pansy's point of view, I'd have to say that I don't share her expectation/the song's projection that those it addresses "will soon get tired of killing."

It's going to be very interesting to see how these children adapt as they learn that their parents, guardians, government and Lord are killers. I'm guessing that at this point Pansy's has a youthful, melodramatic intuition about these matters rather than any actual knowledge or understanding, but that will have to come as these Death Eater and pureblood children grow ever older: it's not a secret that can be kept or will be kept from them. Instead, they will be expected to join the ranks and do whatever their Lord demands.

[longstrider.livejournal.com]

We still don't know what happened with her father. She might have a much closer knowledge of that than many.

It would be interesting to know who can see the Thestrals.

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

You're so right about the Thestrals!

[alt-player.livejournal.com]

Nicely done. And remember that song will be good for most of the game.

[wintercreek]

Not only do we get hints at a connection between Pansy and Amanda, we also get an indication that Lucius may have had to play the guiding father figure for Amanda.

I just keep thinking about that other November, and how frightened Amanda was, even though we expected it would be coming sometime around the end of the year.

Well, as I said, the situation is somewhat dissimilar. It's St Mungo's and not the Manor; I am no longer the seventeen-year-old suddenly in charge of his family; there is no need for urgent action or too much disruption of Pansy's already overset routine.

Frankly, as much as I expected to dislike him, alt_lucius is getting a lot of my sympathy. Poor fellow, to have become the "man of the house" at 17 and now to be having such parallel occurences bring up old memories.

And it doesn't help that he's having to worry about veiled threats to Narcissa from Amycus.

[longstrider.livejournal.com]

That post was one more nail in the coffin of my perception of stupidly insane Amycus is. I sat there looking at it going, "Did he really just make a veiled threat at Narcissa to Lucius? Does he have zero sense of self preservation?" I know the Carrows are crazy and the player is brand new so were not likely to be looking at quick character death, but that is just setting yourself up for an 'accident'. I have complete trust in Lucius to be able to plan and execute an accident, even for a high ranking DE who appears to be in Voldemort's good graces.

[wintercreek]

I have mixed feelings about all the misspellings lately. On the one hand, it's a good reminder that these are youngish kids, and it's realistic for their spelling to be imperfect. On the other hand, I like reading stuff that's spelled correctly.

I agree completely. I can see the argument for verisimilitude (which was, I think, raised as a comment early on: that 11-year-olds would not have consistent adult spelling skills) but on the other hand, I find it irritating to read posts that are full of misspellings. It's especially interesting to see that Padma is by far the worst writer - does this indicate that Ravenclaws in this world are, indeed, only interested in doing well when they are rewarded with a grade? Does that start to suggest something about the moral structure of this world and its strong external motivations? (If so, this moral structure is also suggested by the possibility that Pansy is attempting to mouth the appropriate attitudes regardless of her personal opinions.)