What the fuck book series did you guys read? Because in the Harry Potter I read there was no chance of Harry "offing" somebody. And he saved Malfoy because he had his whole "saving people thing", because he was a good guy, who didn't let people die when he could save them. Harry risking his life to save others is a pretty big theme in those books, how did you not get that?

 

I suspect I read the same book series that you did. I'm well aware of his 'saving people thing'.

Tell me, does Harry using the fucking Cruciatus on someone who spit on his favorite teacher indicate a 'saving people thing'?

To me, it indicates that Harry was just over the edge of the slippery slope, and was pretty much capable of anything at that point.

 

He used it on the guy who was going to torture the children in the Ravenclaw tower. That does not equate with using the Killing Curse on Draco Malfoy.

 

Then we'll disagree on this point, which is fine by me.

 

Well of course that's /how/ it happens. What baffles me is how it happens so /often/. 'Defiant' and 'defiantly' aren't what I'd classify as 'elevated diction,' and especially shouldn't be to anyone trying to write a fucking adventure story. Dyslexia simply can't be /that/ prevalent, can it? So all I'm really saying is that shit like this makes it painfully obvious how incredibly, shockingly low the level of competence out there really is.

 

fine, fine. It did work out for him, because then Narcissa appreciated the news that her spawn was safe, despite randomly being in the RoR for no apparent reason.

 

Well, there goes my salient point, drowned in the wash of dumbfuckery before and after it.

/sigh/

 

Sorry. Maybe the problem is people trying to use words too big for them, an they don't really understand what they mean, thus thinking that the words are interchangeable rather than different.

 

I was fucking amazed to find out just how prevalent it is.

Mild cases are extremely common, while the more serious cases hit about 2% of the US population. I've always wondered what causes this.

 

For the record, I'm dyslexic (mild).

So yeah, it doesn't mean much unless you have it bad.

Because, let's face it: I'm awesome.

(And an English teacher, lol).

 

Sugar. it's popular to blame everything on sugar and cow hormones.

 

Incredibly blunt foreshadowing.
I was reading My Reflection earlier today, and my god, that author has no idea how to foreshadow with any sense of subtlety. Nearly every section would end with some vague warning, and after a couple dozen times, it's gotten absolutely ridiculous.

 

Probably been said before, but I just saw an example. Again.

Nocturne Ally. Nocturn. Or any butchering of the aforementioned.

 

One thing that I absolutely can't stand is when the author has Fleur insert random French words in English speech (e.g. "My sœur likes you very much".) No. Just no.

I am a non-native English speaker with several friends of various nationalities and it's never even occurred to any one of us to speak like this. It's actually more likely for me to use an English word when I speak my language, rather than the other way around. Even then, I will only do it when I talk to people who also speak both languages and only for "difficult" words which may convey a meaning better in English or whose translation escapes me at the moment.

 

Speaking as someone who teaches English as a second language to around 200 students a term, filling in gaps in knowledge with words and grammar from a student's primary language is systematic and natural. It forms a kind of inverse bell-curve. Elementary students do it loads because they know so little, then it drops off as they reach intermediate and upper-intermediate level. At advanced levels, where fluency is reached, it begins to appear again as the students begin to think in a combination of both languages - especially where words are very similar between L1 and L2. Even some of my fellow teachers do it.

 

That's interesting. It hasn't been my experience at all. I wonder how much of a difference it makes if the student learns while living in a country where his second language is predominant. Anyway, as interesting as this is, it's getting off topic. I'll continue to get annoyed by Fleur when she speaks like that though

 

I've seen it the other way too - the author will state that French will be italicised, or square-bracketed, or whatever, but still written in English. And then they'll smack some actual French in there too, just because they can.

 

Similarly to this, when they overemphasise the accent that the likes of Fleur or Hagrid has. So that every single word is messed up in some way, to the extent where it's impossible to even tell what they're meant to be saying.

 

Or maybe Hagrid has a mouthful of rock cakes while he's talking.

They do the same with Krum.

On the subject of languages. I dislike the idea of giving everybody in a story the ability to talk to and understand snakes. It's supposed to be a very rare ability, which is why everybody was surprised, shocked, angry and whatnot when Harry displayed the ability. Especially when the author makes it clear that the story is 'Canon' up to a point after CoS.

 

I don't think I've ever seen that problem before. What fics have that?