Erased by Time and Blockbusters—The Cautionary Tale of Ron Weasley

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Jack Torrance

The problem is Ron is a Ginger and people don't like Ginger kids especially boys, so he got the short end of the stick because of his hair color.

It's that simple.

Now you tell me. (I had a bit of a reddish tint to my hair when I was a kid.) I was never Mr.popular either, and all I needed to do was change my hair color.

[Jack Torrance]

Originally Posted by crich70

Now you tell me. (I had a bit of a reddish tint to my hair when I was a kid.) I was never Mr.popular either, and all I needed to do was change my hair color.

It didnt hurt that Emma Watson was waaay hotter as well.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Jack Torrance

It didnt hurt that Emma Watson was waaay hotter as well.

Well I don't know about that being the case when she was younger (though she was cute) but I do agree she has grown into a beauty.

[Rizla]

The romance thing in HP always felt a bit, well, adolescent to me. So I suppose it's appropriate. I didn't mind the Ron / Hermione thing. I found it kind of amusing. It remained pretty suppressed until the end of the last book, so that was fine.

The Harry / Ginny thing seemed a bit forced. I think it would have been fine if it had remained more implied. That's just me.

And I adopted a semi-stray cat called Hermione. I call her Her--mee--own. Her-My-Own-Knee is a nightmare to pronounce. Whatever the pronunciation, she's sleeping soundly in box wrapped in blankets.

[Jack Torrance]

Originally Posted by crich70

Well I don't know about that being the case when she was younger (though she was cute) but I do agree she has grown into a beauty.

Yeah that did come off a little "sitting on the park bench...."

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Rizla

And I adopted a semi-stray cat called Hermione. I call her Her--mee--own. Her-My-Own-Knee is a nightmare to pronounce.

It's really not. It falls into the same pattern as a whole group of other female Greek names, such as Persephone (Per-Seff-Oh-Knee) and Aphrodite (Aff-Roe-Die-Tee)

[SleepyBob]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's really not. It falls into the same pattern as a whole group of other female Greek names, such as Persephone (Per-Seff-Oh-Knee) and Aphrodite (Aff-Roe-Die-Tee)

Don't you mean Percy-phone and Afro-dight?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by SleepyBob

Don't you mean Percy-phone and Afro-dight?

I think "Afrodite" is a type of glue, isn't it?

[crich70]

I've noticed recently that some names from ancient history seem to be pronounced different ways by different people. Like Dar-ius vs. Da-Ri-Us for example or Leo-Ni-tus vs. Li-o-Ni-tis (I was watching a video about the 300 Spartans).

[HarryT]

Basically a matter of whether or not people know how to pronounce their names correctly. "Dar-EYE-us" is right; "DAR-ius" is wrong (if we're talking about the Persian king, at least.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Basically a matter of whether or not people know how to pronounce their names correctly. "Dar-EYE-us" is right; "DAR-ius" is wrong (if we're talking about the Persian king, at least.

Yep, I was watching a youtube video about the Battle of Thermopylae and noted the pronounciation. Of course if I mispronounce his name it's a result of public education as I don't think the teachers went into any great detail on pronouncing it correctly.

[Yapyap]

Originally Posted by crich70

Yep, I was watching a youtube video about the Battle of Thermopylae and noted the pronounciation. Of course if I mispronounce his name it's a result of public education as I don't think the teachers went into any great detail on pronouncing it correctly.

And what is considered "pronouncing it correctly" will depend on whether you're a native English speaker or not - as far as I know, most everyone who isn't a native English speaker has a very different understanding of how Latin and Greek names should be pronounced...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Yapyap

And what is considered "pronouncing it correctly" will depend on whether you're a native English speaker or not - as far as I know, most everyone who isn't a native English speaker has a very different understanding of how Latin and Greek names should be pronounced...

In the case of Darius, we know how he (or at least, how the Greeks) pronounced his name, because we have it written in contemporary Greek records, and Greek is a phonetic language. In Greek his name is written "Δαρεῖος", where the diphthong "εῖ" is pronounced like "ay" in "hay".

[crich70]

Originally Posted by HarryT

In the case of Darius, we know how he (or at least, how the Greeks) pronounced his name, because we have it written in contemporary Greek records, and Greek is a phonetic language. In Greek his name is written "Δαρεῖος", where the diphthong "εῖ" is pronounced like "ay" in "hay".

And you can be sure the Greeks would have made sure to promounce it right as they would have wanted to make sure they were cursing out the right person when they were voicing their complaints about him to the gods of Greece. If he hadn't been stopped by Athens and Sparta the word democracy might be unknown today. His family held a grudge from another conflict almost 80 yrs before as I understand it which is why he tried to invade Greece in the 1st place. Darius is not a common name I'd think but then neither (I think) is Hermione despite some famous people having been named thus.

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by HarryT

In the case of Darius, we know how he (or at least, how the Greeks) pronounced his name, because we have it written in contemporary Greek records, and Greek is a phonetic language. In Greek his name is written "Δαρεῖος", where the diphthong "εῖ" is pronounced like "ay" in "hay".

I know that many Greeks hate to hear English-speaking scholars pronounce Koine. In modern Greek, many of the vowels have become "ee". I believe that the diphthong "εῖ" is one of them. If you asked a modern Greek to pronounce "Δαρεῖος", you might not get "ay".