Teacher Discussion Forums

How would you explain the inclusion of "thank you very much.", below, to a student?

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense (page 1).

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (1997)

This would be very hard to explain to a student who wasn't very familiar with middle-class, suburban England. Basically, I think Ms Rowling was illustrating that the characters in question are nice, normal, rather prim middle class people. It all ties in with the street name and the phrase "didn't hold with such nonsense."

I imagine the teacher would have to be very familiar with the students' own society and think of a cultural equivalent, if one exists. This is a classic example of language which can't be divorced from its social context

lolwhites wrote:This would be very hard to explain to a student who wasn't very familiar with middle-class, suburban England. Basically, I think Ms Rowling was illustrating that the characters in question are nice, normal, rather prim middle class people. It all ties in with the street name and the phrase "didn't hold with such nonsense."

I imagine the teacher would have to be very familiar with the students' own society and think of a cultural equivalent, if one exists. This is a classic example of language which can't be divorced from its social context

Interesting reply. Did you read it as the writer's own words or an example of those of the character/s? I read it as the latter.


One could of course just cite the translated version in the language of the students.

I presume the writer is showing us the kind of language those characters would use to illustrate the point that they're rather prim, conservative (note the small "c") and closed minded.

lolwhites wrote:I presume the writer is showing us the kind of language those characters would use to illustrate the point that they're rather prim, conservative (note the small "c") and closed minded.

Absolutely.

Which verb relates to what above?

Is it: "the writer is showing that they're rather prim, conservative and closed minded."

or:

"the kind of language those characters would use to illustrate the point that they're rather prim, conservative and closed minded."

I presume it is the first meaning because I doubt whether the characters would want to illustrate that they are small minded.

You're right, metal. The writer is showing that the characters are prim and closed minded.

Incidentally, you've just illustrated the importance of context, knowledge of the world and basic common sense in understanding utterances.

I don't know what it's called but it's quite a common device: a sort of half way to indirect speech.

"I head a voice telling me to turn down the television for crying out loud"

It'll have a name.

The rhetorical trick of using ostensibly third person dialog to represent the mental map of a character and not the narrator, is sometning *beep* usies all the time.

lolwhites wrote:You're right, metal. The writer is showing that the characters are prim and closed minded.

Incidentally, you've just illustrated the importance of context, knowledge of the world and basic common sense in understanding utterances.

Don't ya just love pragmatics?

Stephen Jones wrote:The rhetorical trick of using ostensibly third person dialog to represent the mental map of a character and not the narrator, is sometning *beep* usies all the time.

Hoorah for beep.