Given the complete lack of coverage by any print, television, or online source, you’re probably unaware that the seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Bloomsbury Publishing), went on sale today.
In honor of this pop-culture event, I’ll offer two Harry Potter language-related items.
1. A couple of fans did a line-by-line British/American text comparison of the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone [U.K. original: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone], such as American:
- “on [in] the next street”
- “had gotten [had got] the new computer”
- “almost bald except for his bangs [fringe]“
- “make him and your father even [quits]“
- “This needs [want] thinking about”
2. French fans who want to use Harry Potter for English learning or want to discuss the books with English-speaking fans can now get help from the Dictionnaire Harry Potter Anglais-Français, with over 3,600 English-to-French terms from Harry Potter volumes 1-6.
According to this article:
Thus “namby-pamby” means “gnagnan” in French and “nutter” becomes “cingle”, but notions from within the Potter-world such as “muggle” or “quidditch” are not listed.
Vive le muggle!